Dido
by eMu3
Summary: Asuka and Yohji's first case together and the complicated romances it spwans. In this chapter: Yohji and Aki have that awkward talk about sexual preferences; Schwarz cameo
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Chapter One

"You know hon, it would be a shame to have to turn such a sweet girl like you out to the streets. You haven't managed to scare up a rent check yet, have you Asuka?" Akira Itoh said, annoyance just barely simmering under a controlled smile. Normally the spirited young woman was a favorite tenant of his; she had a burning determination to prove to everyone she encountered that despite being a young woman living alone in a large metropolis she was perfectly fine taking care of herself, thank you very much, and was therefore normally very reliable with her rent and even went above and beyond, helping her landlord do repairs for the shoddy apartment building. Itoh was getting on in years and needed all the help he could get.

"Oh Itoh-san, you wound me! You'd never turn me out on the street just for having a little bad luck, would you?"

"Bad luck dear?"

"Work is slow! As soon as I get my next job I'll give you your rent and a big far bundle of interest if you'd like-"

"Asuka, Asuka please, I'm an old man with bills of my own to pay. I can't do so on promises." Itoh mumbled.

"But you know I'm good for it!"

"I'm sorry." And he truly did look it. "But I have a potential tenant interested in an apartment who can pay me cash. If you don't have your rent by the end of the week then I'm going to have to rent to the young man."

Asuka's pretty face twisted into a sneer. "Of course! Give the apartment to the MAN, never mind the fact that I'm already living there and have been a model tenant for three years! I see how it is in this world, but I thought _you'd_ be different Itoh-san!"

"Asuka please wait-"

But the angry woman stormed upstairs, ignoring her landlord's pleas. His only answer was to hear her apartment door slam.

Asuka threw herself on her bed, hands over her face. She already regretted yelling at Itoh. He was one of the few people who treated her well as a person, although she did tend to get short with him when he constantly suggested she find a nice young man to take care of her. No one seemed to understand she was fine with taking care of herself.

"Okay Asuka, enough self pitying. You have a problem and you need to solve it." She told herself. She sat up and started pacing the room.

What she'd told Itoh wasn't entirely true. There were jobs out there; the problem was most people weren't interested in hiring her as a private detective. She had an excellent case record, and a handful of very impressed repeat customers. But lately she got jobs through word of mouth recommendation or her regulars, and her regulars just didn't need any help.

Just the other day she'd gone to see one of her old clients, Ryouta Akinari. She wasn't proud of herself for seeking him out, it just felt like taking advantage of the poor man. He was a single middle aged man with a teenage son and he was particularly paranoid. He hired Asuka out for snoop jobs at least once a month, typically every time he was considering going out with a woman or every time he suspected his son of having a secret girlfriend. She tailed the poor, socially awkward and somewhat neurotic teen boy more often than she did laundry.  
Ryouta did need the services of a private investigator, but for what he wouldn't say, he'd just insisted that Asuka wasn't right for this particular job. Annoyed, she decided to go see him and find out why.

* * *

"But you still haven't given me a reason Ryo!" Asuka insisted.

"It's just...just you're not right for it-"

"Well why the hell not?!" Asuka yelled. "You hire me all the time, you know I'm good!"

"I know Asuka, but there are some things you just...there are some things women just can't do..." Ryouta trailed off, realizing he'd said entirely the wrong thing. However instead of exploding Asuka went to the other extreme and had become eerily calm.

"Alright Ryouta darling, why don't you explain what it is a little helpless girl like me can't do that a big strong ma-a-a-an would be better at? Because you're a man and you're the one who hires me you stupid misogynistic son of a bitch!" Her voice had risen to screeching level.

"Wait a minute Asuka, it's not like that! Come on, you know me as well as I know you-I've never thought anything like that!" Ryouta insisted, on the verge of a panic.

"Well what is it then?" She asked, her tone still sharp.

"It's...it's Natsuhiko." Ryouta murmured, referring to his son. "He's in trouble."

"Trouble?" Asuka's expression finally softened. Ryouta sat down heavily on his sofa and Asuka joined him, perched on the arm of the couch. "What kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly...he started seeing these new kids, and I was so excited for him, to be invited to parties and having friends...you were busy with some other case so I hired Ubara-san to check them out instead-"

"Oh Ryo, Ryo, you know what a shoddy con-man Ubara is!" Asuka shook her head sadly.

"Well I know now! He charged double your rate and failed to discover Natsuhiko's friends are from a cult!" Ryouta exclaimed.

"A cult?"

"Yes, and they've brainwashed him. He won't come home. He tells me his name is Satomi now and that the Clan-Father is his only family now. I've lost my son and the only way to bring him back is to have someone go in and get him, but, but he needs to be deprogrammed before leaving. Otherwise he'll just go back. I already hired Hiroyuki Akino to try-"

"Oh holy shit Ryouta, have you been calling every bargain basement PI special?"

"You're not hearing me Asuka! This cult is for teenage boys. They'd never let you inside. There's nothing you can do." Ryouta lamented. "And I'm finding out the hard way that none of the male private detectives in Tokyo are even half as competent as you. I'm spending a fortune, but I'd pay three fortunes to get Natsuhiko back."

'Three fortunes, eh?'

"Don't worry Ryouta, this is your lucky day!" Asuka said brightly. "If all you're worried about is a silly thing like gender, why, why I've just started working with a partner."

"You have?" Ryouta looked suspicious. Asuka nodded brightly for his benefit.

"Sure! A kid even, can't be more than seventeen years old. He's smart as a whip too!" She was a good enough actress not to squirm at that corny bit of phrasing. She made a mental note not to fall asleep with the Simpsons on again if it continued to make her talk like Grandpa Simpson. "So if you hire us you'll be getting his teenage-boy-ness, which will be perfect for infiltrating this cult, and my dependability and expertise!"

"Well...well okay. But I want to meet this new partner of yours myself. I need to ascertain whether he's worthy of my trust." Ryouta said slowly.

"Sure! Of course!" Asuka had a wide, pretty smile fixed on her face. "How about Friday?"

"Asuke my son is imprisoned in a cult! How about tomorrow over lunch?" Ryouta shot back. She'd never seen the nervous man so edgy before. Then again he'd never hired her for anything more serious than a snoop job before either.

"Lunch, lunch will be good! Yes-yes, tomorrow at lunch. I'll see you then Ryouta, and don't worry about Natsuhiko. We'll have him back before you know it, that's how good this kid is!"

"What's your partner's name Asuka?" Ryouta called after the briskly departing detective. She pretended not to hear him as she showed herself out of his home.

* * *

"Shit-shit-shit!" Asuka hissed as she banged her head against her steering wheel. "What the hell did you go and say that for you stupid bitch?" Her freak out only lasted half a minute, not being one to wallow in her problems, she started her car and drove to the nearest high school to look for a partner. She found herself parked on the curb a little ways up the street from Natsuhiko's school. Thanks to Ryouta's paranoid nature she was already quite familiar with the building and therefore it seemed as good a place as any to stalk a teenaged boy.

Her eyes roamed over the crowd of teens milling around the building. School had likely just been let out; some were rushing away or getting into cars, but the majority were lingering and chatting with each other. It was a nice day out, the kind you didn't want to rush through.

Asuka rolled down her window and put her sunglasses on. She had her hands behind her head so that it would look like she was catnapping if anyone cared to glance into her car. Some of the school kids' conversations reached her. Apparently there was a dance that weekend and many of the kids were attempting to make matches and find dates.

Asuka found her eyes drawn to a lanky boy who was at least a head taller than everyone around him. What kept her eyes there was his hair; unlike his peers this boy's yellow hair was natural. He was talking to a pretty little thing whose waist length hair was bleached an unhealthy shade of white blond. Her friend, with equally horribly bleached pigtails, was giggling harder and harder the more the boy spoke. Asuka couldn't hear a word of their conversation; the boy kept his voice low and the girls were twittering incomprehensibly like idiots. However when a second boy approached them he was speaking loud and clear.

"Don't tell me you're considering going out with the frog Megumi!"

"It's none of your business if she is Otoya!" The girl's friend screeched. Apparently when angered the schoolgirls suddenly learned how to speak Japanese properly and project their timid little voices. Asuka snorted.

"No one cares what an ugly little cling-on like you thinks Tomomi. I was talking to Megumi." The newer boy, Otoya, snapped. He came up to the blond boy's chin and looked about ten or twenty pounds heavier, but with muscle tone as opposed to fat. Asuka's money was on Otoya in a fight, not the pretty boy.

"And I'm sure insulting her best friend is sure to impress Megumi-chan greatly." The pretty boy spoke up. "She certainly looks enamored with you now, perhaps next you should offer to kick her cat."

Otoya's mean little eyes fixed on the lanky youth. "No one's talking to you you disgusting half-breed, so keep your stupid mouth shut! Frog-boy!"

The teen laughed. "Otoya-san your wit cuts right to my heart!"

Asuka had to fight down the urge to warn the kid against provoking the more physically intimidating and short tempered teen, but was too intrigued to actually do anything. Maybe it was simply overconfidence, but the boy's cocky grin implied he had the situation well in hand. Asuka was convinced he couldn't possibly win in a fight and just as convinced Otoya wouldn't let the battle over Megumi remain a battle of wits, as he was going to lose the latter.

"Knock it off both of you! Who says I want to go to the dance with either of you dunces?" Megumi spoke up angrily.  
Asuka didn't even attempt to suppress a grin at Megumi's sudden assertiveness. Maybe the little ditz wasn't a total loss after all.

"Now Megumi-chan, it's not very ladylike to go back on your word."

"Yohji Kudoh you self centered baka! I didn't say I was going with you!" Megumi screeched.

"You were plenty interested before Otoya called him a frog." Tomomi cut in. "And Otoya is twice the baka Kudoh is."

"No one's talking to you gnome girl! This is between me and Megumi. Come on, you gotta wanna go to the dance with a stud like me. It only makes sense, we're the best looking couple in the school. Everyone expects us to hook up." Otoya said with a self-satisfied grin.

Megumi snorted. "No one expects us to go out Otoya. And even before considering a date with you I'd have to teach you how to do your hair, which is more work than I'm interested in doing. Yohji at least can groom himself properly."

Ah. It wasn't feminism, she was just pitting them against each other. Oh well. Tomomi seemed to have a better head on her shoulders at least...'except you're not looking for a teenage female partner, you're looking for a male. Tomomi and Megumi don't matter, focus on the boys.' she reminded herself.

"So you're seriously considering dating a half-gaijin from who knows where over me, the heir to a successful shipping company? Over a half-breed? Come on Megumi-chan, I thought you had a brain in your head to go with that pretty face." Otoya said with a smirk.

Megumi glanced at the other boy, Yohji. "Well? What do you have to say to that?"

"There's nothing to say, everything Otoya-san said is true. It's so unfortunate that I cannot hide my French heritage as easily as he can hide being a Barakumin."

"What?"

That revelation had shaken things up. Asuka was impressed. Megumi and Tomomi had actually taken a compulsive step away from the other teen.

"I'm not a Barakumin! Take that back you froggy son of a bitch!" Otoya seethed.

"How could he be? They'd never let a Barakumin become head of a company. They're not smart enough to handle the pressure." Megumi commented.

"Well his father isn't a Barakumin, just his mother. Which is why they got a divorce. Otoya's father suspected something and hired a snoop detective to find out for sure-"

"You're lying!" Otoya growled.

"I am not. My father knows the detective. Like I said, you're really lucky you can hide it so easily. No one would ever know by looking at you that you're less than 100." Yohji said with mock-jealousy.

Otoya rushed forwards and grabbed Yohji roughly by the shirt collar. Both of the girls shrieked loudly, attracting the attention of other students who gathered around to watch the fight. They crowded in so quickly Asuka's view was blocked and she had to count on the comments of the teens to tell what was happening.

"Megumi-chan do something, your boyfriends are going to kill each other!"

"Those two freaks are NOT my boyfriends! Tomomi, do something!"

"Take it back you fucking frog!" Otoya's voice rang out over the crowd.

"I can't help what my father overheard." Yohji's answer was confident; Otoya however sounded like he'd been punched in the mouth.

"Fine! I'll let you live, but simply because it's beneath me to spend so much time with a disgusting gaijin!" Otoya's yell signaled the end of the fight, and as the crowd dispersed Asuka caught a glimpse of Yohji calmly straightening his shirt collar. From the looks of it Otoya hadn't landed a single hit. The Barakumin himself, however, was sporting a split lip.  
Asuka was impressed. She made the decision then and there to tail this Kudoh kid home.

Author's Notes: The barakumin are a minority group in Japan, a perceived race that receives negative prejudicial treatment. The author does not in any shape way or form endorse a negative perception of the barakumin, just threw in the negative stereotypes out of interest.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"Hey Aki? It's Asuka, I need to ask you a favor." Asuka was cradling her cell phone between the crook of her raised shoulder and the side of her head as she gathered books on cults from the shelves of the public library. Next stop was the computer to hit databases and newspaper back-logs, which would hopefully bring up something on Natsuhiko's cult specifically.

"It's not a good time for me Asuka." Aki answered in a tired voice.

"Don't care. It's not like there's ever a good time for anyone. I need as much info as I can get on a Kudoh…" She glanced down at a name she'd scribbled on her hand after rifling through the guy's mail. "Yoshikazu. And while you're at it I could use a hit on his son, Yohji. The kid goes to the same school as your kid sister-"

"What do you need information on Yohji Kudoh for?" Aki asked suspiciously.

"You know him?" Asuka asked. She placed her pile of books on a desk next to a computer before sitting down and pulling up the databases she needed.

"I know of him. Hana's had a thing for him for awhile. He's supposed to be something of a man-skank, at least, you know, a high school version. Hana's true love isn't in trouble, is he?"

"Not yet." Asuka answered with a wicked grin that Aki likely could sense based on her tone of voice. "I'm going to meet with the kid tomorrow."

"He's seventeen."

"Hey, I said meet with him, not fuck him. Besides, I'm twenty two. If he was the older one and I was the younger one you wouldn't even blink."

"Actually I still would, Asuka dear, because you would be a minor with a pervert after you. Promise me there's a legitimate reason for the search and I'll have it done for you by midnight." Aki said with a laugh. Asuka smiled reminiscently. It had been far too long since she'd seen her friend in person.

"What on Earth do you mean, Aki? Of course there's a legitimate reason. Why wouldn't there be?"

"Well a reason that would be decidedly non-legit would be Hana paying you to make up some cock and bull story so she could find out personal details about her desired sweetie-"

"She wouldn't!"

"She's tried to use my software without my assistance for the purpose. Fried everything in ten minutes, I was not pleased. Now the poor girl's torn between two crushes, the other just as unlikely and this other kid's playing the mysterious card so she knows even less about him. I had to find a way to padlock my laptop from her." Aki complained.

"Poor Hana the junior stalker!" Asuka laughed.

She could almost hear Aki's frown. "She's not even good at it either. I would be insulted to be stalked by such an amateur."

"So will you do the search?"

"Already started Sweetie. Courtesy of Hana, I can give you a little background info on your boy."

"Oh?" Asuka was intrigued.

"For starters he has dreamy eyes." Aki snorted.

"I didn't get close enough to see his eyes, what color are they?" She asked, ignoring the sarcasm. The only way to get anything useful out of Aki was to roll with the constant teasing. She got up to retrieve a small pile of documents from the printer.

"Green. So kid's gotta be a mix, right?" Aki suggested.

"Well he could be a throwback or something, but he isn't. He's part-French." Asuka answered as she thumbed through the printouts. "Oh, before I forget, I misplaced one of my folders on Natsuhiko Akinari. Can you-"

"Sure. What's one more search? So Kudoh's up to something with the Akinaris? What'd he do, beat Natsuhiko up?" Aki guessed. "Steal his 'girlfriend'?"

Asuka chose to ignore him. "So what else did Hana tell you about Kudoh?" This was a good yet unconventional source of information. Aki Murakami had a memory to rival God's and enamored teenage girls knew more about their crushes than was healthy. The lovesick fourteen year old had probably spilled plenty to her nineteen year old hacker brother. Asuka once more felt a pang of relief that she'd managed to stay friendly with this particular ex-boyfriend.

"Let's see…your kid's birthday is March third, blood type is AB which makes him sympathetic yet moody, oooh, mysterious." He said sarcastically. "He particularly enjoyed the raspberry dark chocolate truffles Hana bought him for Valentine's Day, apparently, and I have this on a good authority, he has sexy-bum…"

"Right. Can you give me something useful Aki?"

"Okay." His tone of voice implied he'd been holding this last one back. "Kid's got some gender issues."

"Pardon?" Asuka's first thought was of a Yohji-ina.

"I mean issues relating to other genders, not his own. He's very fond of women, like fawns over them, does everything for all women. You'd hate the type-holds open doors, pulls out chairs and likes to run to the rescue of any damsel he can. Hana's crush started when he helped her out with a bullying problem. Now take it to the other extreme and he's got issues with men, especially when they screw girls over."

"Hm. That's something to chew on." Asuka murmured. For the hell of it she punched the name Kudoh Yoshikazu into the database search. Kudoh was just common enough a last name that she didn't expect much, but as usual her hunch proved its merit and several newspaper articles popped up. Asuka opened one and started scrolling while Aki recounted Hana's wonderful rescue in thrilling detail.

"Uh huh…oh, that makes sense."

"It makes sense for the seniors to call Hana duck-face? Because I honestly don't get it, although I think it started somehow with some duck sauce."

"No, no. A Kudoh Genviève went missing eight years ago. She's presumed dead. It was a high profile case at the time. Do you remember it?"

"Asuka darling, I was eleven eight years ago and not even following the local news." Aki answered.

"Oh. Well if he's got mommy issues that would explain him being super protective of all women, you know, since he couldn't save her from whatever happened? Oooh, that's interesting…Yoshikazu was the chief suspect. Guess it wasn't a happy marriage."

"Guess not. Well Asuka dear, lovely as it's been to hear from you I'm afraid this really is a shitty time for me. Daiki's waiting for me downstairs. But I will have everything for you by midnight as promised. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks a million hon." Asuka hung up her phone, printed the articles on Genviève Kudoh and headed for the reference desk.

* * *

Itoh-san squinted out the little glass window in the main door to his apartment complex, sure he'd seen something. After a few seconds in front of the door he dismissed it as his imagination and walked down the hallway to the apartment he kept for himself. A moment later Asuka disentangled herself from some bushes that were growing beside the stairwell, plucking leaves and thorns from her oversized white blouse. A couple of teenage boys were gaping at her. She swished her ponytail at them as she walked into the building with a tote bag full of photocopies, printouts and library books.

Tomorrow after her successful meeting with Ryouta Akinari she'd be able to approach her landlord again, when she was assured of a paycheck. Until then she would happily dive for any flowerbed she could to avoid him. With dignity and class, of course.

She got into her apartment without detection and brewed a pot of coffee for what promised to be a long night. There were a few emails waiting for her from Aki, disclosing the results of his searches. He'd sent them at 11:48, dependable man that he was.

Smiling to herself, Asuka sat in front of her computer and read up on the Kudoh family, adding some tooth to her smile as she developed a game plan.

* * *

"Hey there stud. Need a ride?" Asuka offered pleasantly, rolling down the window to the passenger side so the teen could get a better look at her. Yohji looked a little surprised, but not alarmed, and she held back a snort. Now if she was approached like that by a stranger her first instinct would involve pepper-spray, but apparently she'd sized this kid up right. Being hit on by an older woman stoked his ego and made him drop his guard. After she recruited him that would be the first thing on the list for them to work on.

The kid pushed some of his wavy bangs out of his face and looked at her again as if he wasn't quite sure she was real. He looked a little awkward in the plain school uniform he was wearing, the collared shirt and sweater vest suited meek little Natsuhiko much more than an exotically attractive teen like Kudoh.

"And who might you be?" Yohji asked.

Asuka smiled brightly at him. "Murase Asuka. C'mon in, we're going the same way and I could use your help."

"Can't imagine what a gorgeous girl like you would need my help with." The kid murmured as he slid into her passenger seat. Once again Asuka had to hold back a snort at the teen's ridiculous line. Oh but he would be fun to train.

She toyed for a second with switching to a porn star voice and dragging out how much she just 'ne-e-e-e-eded' him but she only had an hour before she was supposed to meet Ryouta.

"You go to school with a boy named Akinari Natsuhiko, right?" Asuka asked.

"Natsuhiko? Yeah, don't really know him very well though. Why? He's not your boyfriend or something, is he?" He looked slightly sickened at the thought.

Asuka smirked. "No, I'm actually unattached." She watched him out of the corner of her eye and noted the hopeful smile on his face. No, she was not above playing with the emotions of a hormonal teenager, especially not, as Aki had so eloquently put it, a man-skank like this Kudoh kid. "I'm friends with his father, Ryouta. Natsuhiko's in a bit of trouble so I told Ryouta I'd talk to some of his classmates and see if I could find out what's going on."

"Oh. Well I'd really love to help you Murase-chan, but like I said I don't really know Natsuhiko very well."

"That's okay hon, I'm sure you'll do what you can." Asuka said in a voice of forced cheerfulness. Lesson one: don't get into cars with strangers. Lesson two: don't call me Murase-chan unless you want my stiletto heeled boot up your sexy-bum.

She actually drove past the high school and the kid still didn't look remotely alarmed. Didn't he have survival instincts? Asuka was beginning to reconsider her decision to take the kid on as a temporary partner, but then it was already too late to switch.

She pulled the car up in front of a small café and turned to her doofus of a hostage. "Will you let me buy you a coffee sweetie?" He bristled at her tone, and she considered her payback for the Murase-chan executed.

"Actually I can take care of it _Asuka-chan_-"

Oh no he didn't…

"But I should probably head to school, don't you think?"

Wait a minute…was he calling her bluff? Asuka smirked. Okay, so maybe he was only half-doofus. Still…he seemed the curious type and if she was already stooping so low as to work with a male she was going to maintain her power monopoly.

Asuka pushed a button and the locks clicked open. "You're probably right Kudoh-san…I'm sure I'd have better luck with one of Natsuhiko's friends anyway."

Yohji shook his head in amusement, a cocky grin on his face. He made no movement to leave but instead faced her with confidence. "I never introduced myself Asuka-chan. And we both know Natsuhiko doesn't have any friends. So why don't you try being straight with me?"

"Wow. You've really got a pair, don't you pretty boy?" She said before she could stop herself. Still, she wouldn't apologize for it, although it didn't look like she'd need to. Yohji was laughing.

"So you think I'm pretty?" He asked.

"Please. You know you're pretty so don't try any fishing with me. Sitting around in a parked car with a minor is a touch unsavory. Let's go in, get the coffee and then I'll be straight with you, kay?" She asked, expression verging on a scowl. Yohji looked utterly relaxed, long limbs draped over her passenger seat like a cat in the sun.

"Works for me. I'll follow you as long as you'll let me."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Author's Notes: Hey everyone! So I know this update has taken me forever, sorry about that to anyone who's been reading, but I got stuck. However I've worked through my writer's block and with a steady supply of encouragin reviews (hint-hint) this show should be up and running somewhat regularly from hereon out.

One of the things I did get stuck on was the TIMELINE. I had to go through and actually pin one down because I noticed characters' ages and dates were clashing so I have made some changes and the first two chapters are re-posts to include the changes. Asuka is now 22 instead of 24, Aki is 19 and Yohji is still 17. I have Kapitel set for the year 2004 and Gluhen is very tentatively 2008 (present), all this subject to change, but yeah, that makes this story 1999 and Journey 1991-1996. If you're just tuning in for the chapter three update, the changes are so minute you really don't have to reread the first two. Thanks as always to my reviewers and on with the show!

Chapter Three

"Cult, huh? Well I can't say I'm totally surprised." Yohji assessed while glancing through one of the print outs Asuka had brought with her. "They call themselves the Garnets? Uh, Asuka-san, are you okay?"

"Huh. Oh, yeah, the Garnets. Apparently the stone has associations with rebirth. I haven't mentioned that to Ryouta yet…he's already got himself convinced we're dealing with a death cult." Asuka answered sheepishly. She'd been distracted by Yohji's hands. Watching his long, elegant fingers dance over the papers was somewhat mesmerizing.

"Death cult?" Yohji frowned. "You want me to infiltrate a death cult? You're lucky you're so cute."

"For starters kiddo we don't actually know it's a death cult. But you're right, considering the symbolism of their name I'd say there's an outside chance. And secondly can you please tone down the flirting? If I'm going to work with you you are not to call me-"

"I know, I know. You already talked to me about the 'chan'." Yohji reminded her. He scrunched up his nose when she teased him, which was making her want to giggle. Hm, she might not be able to tell him to cut the nose-scrunching, it didn't seem entirely voluntary. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it.

"Not just the 'chan' Yohji. I don't want you calling me sweetheart, honey, sugar or anything else that pops into your misogynistic head. I don't want you to call me cute or pretty or smexy and if you ever hold a door open for me again I'll knock your teeth out with it, got it? If you're working this case with me you're going to defer to me. So treat me like your boss."

"You know it's incredibly smexy when you talk to me like that." Yohji said, propping his chin on his hand and batting his eyelashes at her. She couldn't hold back a sharp, barking laugh at that, and her face reddened for it. Yohji smirked triumphantly and she wanted to stab his hand with a fork.

"Ryouta's going to be here any minute now, can you at least pretend to respect me while he's here?" She asked with a scowl.

"But I do respect you Asuka-san. You must be very clever and brave to do the work you do without any help. You know you can respect someone and think they're attractive, right?" Yohji asked earnestly, tone reminding her sharply that he was seventeen.

'Seventeen, jail bait and just here to help me find Natsuhiko.' She reminded herself. It had been awhile since anyone even halfway decent looking had flirted with her. Something about the overbearing bitch persona she gave off tended to chase people away. Still, flattering and fun though it was, letting some pretty boy high school kid's attentions go to her head was bad for business, to say the least, and she was not proud of the way she was handling herself.

"Hello Asuka, so this is your partner? Um, Asuka-san you look a little flushed. You are feeling well enough for the job, aren't you?" Ryouta asked as he approached their table. He cautiously sat down across from the pair, seemingly afraid of catching whatever illness might make the domineering young woman blush.

"I'm fine Ryou. This is my new partner, Kudoh Yohji. Yohji, this is Akinari Ryouta." Asuka introduced.

"Hi Akinari-san, nice to meet you." Yohji introduced, shaking hands with Ryouta.

"Yes, yes. You look a little young." He noted. Asuka snorted.

"Well really Ryouta, would you prefer he were a middle aged man? Then he'd be as useless for an infiltration as I am." She pointed out.

"I don't know Asuka-ch…san. Did you consider just disguising yourself as a boy?" Yohji asked cheerfully.

Asuka glared daggers at him. "Are you saying you think I'd make a convincing man?" She growled. Yohji looked like he was enjoying himself far too much. Ryouta on the other hand looked relieved.

"Of course! Why, why you're only in your twenties Asuka, and, and you've always looked young for your age anyway. You could go in drag and then I wouldn't have to trust Natsuhiko's safety to some amateur hoodlum!"

"Hey!" Asuka and Yohji both bristled.

"For starters these-" Asuka cupped her breasts and shoved them upwards roughly. "-are far too large to comfortably and convincingly strap down for who knows how long during this job!" Now Yohji and Ryouta were both looking somewhat red and uncomfortable. "Secondly Yohji is NOT a hoodlum. He may be an amateur but he's under my tutelage Ryouta. Don't you trust me that much? I didn't pick him for a partner based on his pretty face you know, he's got some talent."

"Enlighten me. What do you do kid?" Ryouta asked skeptically.

"Asuka-san says I read people and that I can play them." Yohji answered with a shrug.

"He's good Ryou. Just the other day I watched him make an ass out of some kid at his school. Played his anger perfectly and somehow found out he was a barakumin-"

"Actually Asuka-san I was lying…" Yohji admitted, chewing on his lower lip. "I have no idea if Otoya's a barakumin or not, I just thought it'd piss him off."

Asuka's expression barely faltered. "Hey, being an able bullshitter is almost better than having access to real info. Besides, I told you he can play people."

"Uh huh." Ryouta didn't look terribly impressed. "Tell me something Asuka, you're not trying to play me now, are you? Because it looks like you just picked this kid up from the street corner or something."

Asuka laughed loudly, and based on the pained look in her eyes Yohji guessed it was a stall. Ryouta didn't seem to notice.

"Come on! Why would I do something that stupid? I mean, even if you hired me with some kid I'd just met, well I'd still have to work the job with him and if it was just some shlep from the streets…that wouldn't be very safe, now would it? You know I take my job more seriously than that so please don't offend me."

"Y-you're right. I'm sorry Asuka, it's just this whole business makes me so nervous. I-I've never had so much riding on your work before, you know? I'm so worried they might actually do something to my baby boy that I-I-I-" Ryouta tugged at his thin hair with one hand, his other one stuck in his mouth so he could chew on his fingers as he hyperventilated.

"Ryouta, darling you've got to calm down!" Asuka insisted. "Why don't you go over to the rest room and splash some water on your face, do some breathing. We'll wait for you and start hammering out the details when you get back, okay? Don't worry, we'll have Natsuhiko back home where he belongs in no time, you have my word."

"O-o-okay As-asuka." Ryouta said nervously as he stood up to go. Yohji rose to follow him, looking concerned. Asuka snagged his wrist and pulled him roughly back to his seat. Luckily Ryouta was so distressed he didn't notice and as soon as he was out of earshot Asuka turned to face Yohji, expression livid.

"What the fuck was that?!" She hissed. "You do not, I repeat, do not drop bombshells like that on me while I'm with a client, okay? I need to look cool and in control to make up for the fact that you look like you're frickin fourteen!" Which wasn't true at all. If he wasn't wearing a high school uniform he could convincingly pass for Asuka's age or older.

"I just wanted to be honest, I mean, I figured he has the right to know details about me since you're asking him to trust us-"

"I'll do the thinking for us Blondie since you apparently can't handle it. Okay? We can do a bullshit dance for Ryouta as much as we need to, just so long as he hires us. I know I can do this job and he doesn't need to know anything more than that."

"But you can't, Asuka-_**chan**_, that's why you asked me to help you in the first place." Yohji reminded her.

Well he had her there, and that knowledge wasn't doing much for her mood. "He's coming back. You don't get to talk anymore. You've lost that privilege." She snarled just before Ryouta sat down at the table again. His shirt collar was damp and his baby face was dripping, but he looked slightly more collected than he had been before.

"Feeling better?" She asked sympathetically. Yohji crossed his arms and glared at them as she reached across the table to squeeze Ryouta's fat hand. The man didn't notice, but sniffed and nodded at her, shooting her an expression of hopeful desperation.

"Yeah, yeah I think I've got my head together now. I'm really sorry about earlier Asuka. Of course I trust you."

"I understand Ryouta. Natsuhiko's your baby, you're not going to trust his safety to just anyone. And he's a good kid. I promise you he'll have my full attention. I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to him." She said, voice dripping with concern. She was laying it on a little thick, but then Ryouta was the type who responded to soap opera type melodrama and Asuka was nothing if not an actress. When she wanted to she was capable of delivering exactly what someone wanted.

Yohji looked almost sickened at her display, and even more disgusted at how eagerly Ryouta was swallowing it. She was tempted to shoot him a questioning look but obviously that would have to wait. Hadn't she already explained to the kid how much she needed this job for her rent check while they were at the café?

"Thanks Asuka I…I really appreciate your dedication. I know I can trust you."

"No, thank you Ryouta. Your trust means a lot to me." Asuka said with a small half smile. "I'm sorry to be so abrupt but I want to start working on this job immediately so we really need to nail down these details now."

"Oh, oh of course, right. Your payment…" Ryouta fumbled with his briefcase for his checkbook. "Normal rate half in advance?"

"Sounds good to me darling. Although you've got to pay a little extra now, I've got a partner to take care of too."

Yep, that was definitely disgust on his face. Which was starting to tick her off. Once again mentally blessing Ryouta for being unusually thick Asuka reassured him again a few times, they both shook his hand and she and Yohji left the restaurant together for what promised to be a fun car ride back to the Kudoh residence.

Yohji flopped into the passenger seat in a sulk, arms crossed as he gazed out the window. Asuka looked at him for a moment, head tilted to the side as she considered him. Okay, so her little dance with Ryouta was somehow less moral than Yohji's parade of bullshit for his classmates? Not fucking likely. She was determined not to let him take the moral high ground on her.

Before starting the car Asuka extracted a pack of cigarettes from the front pocket of her blouse and found that her lighter had disappeared. She started sifting through the accumulated filth in her car floor and change caddy, thinking she might have dropped it earlier, unlit cigarette dangling precariously from her lips.

"Dammit." She muttered, finding plenty of store receipts and empty coffee cups but no lighter. She looked up and saw Yohji playing with an electric blue lighter as he continued to gaze out the window.

"Um…can I borrow that?" She asked.

Yohji regarded her with a distant smile on his face. "So you do ask for help sometimes."

"I'm asking for a light." She said with a frown. "But I get your point. Yes, sometimes I do more than bark orders at people. Did you want one?" She asked, indicating her cigarettes.

He looked tempted. "I'd better not. My Dad doesn't like me smoking and I'd rather avoid a fight. He's not going to be too happy with me to begin with, what with skipping school today and all."

Asuka lit her cigarette and handed the lighter back to Yohji. She rolled down her window, deciding it would be rude to blow smoke in the kid's face if he couldn't have a cigarette. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to get you in trouble."

Yohji shrugged. "I'm going to be skipping school a few more times for this job anyway, right?"

She chewed her lip, considering. "Well, if it's a problem I can probably avoid it. We're not going to start actively working this case until Monday-"

"But you told Akinari-san-"

"Ryou knows I exaggerate-don't get huffy with me kid! This is part of the work, when you work with someone as nervous as Ryouta Akinari on a serious case you say anything you can to keep him from having a nervous breakdown. When he's feeling more calm and you've had some time to do some prep work you give a more realistic assessment. I promise I'm not taking advantage of him, this really is how I always operate."

"I guess that makes sense. I didn't really consider his nerves." Yohji admitted.

Asuka grinned, exhaling a puff of smoke out the window. "That's alright hon-"

"Wait, wait, I can't call you sweetheart but you can call me hon?"

"I'm older and in charge. How does it feel to be demeaned?" She asked, batting her lashes as he once again crinkled his nose.

"So let me get this straight…in your opinion it's wrong for men to say cutesy things to women because it demeans them…and your solution to this problem is to do the exact same thing the first chance you get? Isn't that a little hypocritical?"

Asuka started to say something in her defense, stopped, thought about it for a second and refuted him. "True enough Yohji, except I'm being ironic about it to teach you a lesson."

Yohji didn't look like he was buying it. "Right, because you're totally not enjoying this at all."

"You're so cute when you're facetious!" She gushed. "Seriously though, I've been reading up on cults and the Garnets and I expect you to do the same. Ignorant PIs end up dead surprisingly often and I do not intend to explain to your little bleached blond girlfriend why you're pushing up daisies-"

"Megumi-chan isn't my girlfriend, she picked Otoya."

"Like I frickin' care, I was making a point." She snapped, ignoring his dejected tone. "Read up on everything this weekend. And yes, I mean everything, and I do realize I left you four books and a binder of articles. I'm not saying memorize it, but be familiar with it. On Sunday I'll pick you up for a lunch meeting, we'll trade info and on Monday I'll tail you to school. We're going to see if there are any recruiters for the Garnets left at your high school or if they somehow satisfied their quota with Natsuhiko. Just sniff them out on Monday, we'll work on getting you recruited later in the week and hopefully have you in cult headquarters by the end of next week."

"That sounds a little ambitious." Yohji muttered.

"Well Natsuhiko is in a certain amount of danger. We can't exactly take our time on this one."

"Um, Asuka-san? There's something that's been bothering me about this…what's to stop-"

"You from being brainwashed?" Asuka cut him off.

"Well yeah. I mean if they got Natsuhiko to reject his own father, and I don't even like my father to begin with, y'know…"

They'd reached Yohji's house. Asuka pulled up to the curb, parked, and stubbed out her cigarette before turning to face him with a smile she hoped was comforting. "Believe me I considered that already. Don't get me wrong, there is a slight risk of you falling in with these guys for real, but it's a very, very remote chance. The Garnets appeal to a certain kind of kid and all their techniques are focused on that psychological profile. Now, how much do you think you have in common with Natsuhiko?"

Apparently her point was made. Yohji looked visibly relieved. "Okay, that's good to know. So wait, does that mean to get recruited in the first place I'm going to have to pretend to be a wiener?"

Asuka snorted. "Yeah, pretty much. You know, Natsuhiko _is_ a sweet boy-"

"He's a wiener though. Besides, he's kinda creepy."

"You did meet his father today, who is on familiar terms with multiple private detectives due to his paranoia. What do you think you'd be like with a smothering parent like that?" Asuka pointed out.

Yohji laughed. "As long as I was still sexy I don't think I'd mind."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "There's more to people than looks Kudoh."

"Uh huh. Sure. So that's why you highlight your hair, pencil your eyebrows and wear push up bras?"

"Get out of my car."

Yohji's laugh was infectious, to the point where Asuka found herself giggling against her will. She waved to Yohji as he walked up the path to his front door, grin still in place as she drove to her bank to cash Ryouta's check.

* * *

"Here you go Itoh-san. Two months rent in cash. Now are you going to be a nice old man and stop threatening to throw me out?" Asuka asked sweetly. Itoh counted the money for the third time in a row, nodded, and regarded his tenant with a fond expression.

"As long as you keep paying for your room Asuka I would never throw you out. You are a good tenant when you have work."

"Thanks Itoh-san. So what about that bum one floor down from me? Are you gonna evict him yet? He bangs on the ceiling every time I vacuum."

Itoh smirked. "You know what would be wonderful dear, would be for you to let me be the landlord and content yourself to just being another tenant."

"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, every time I vacuum!" Which was why she now vacuumed at four in the morning.

Asuka smiled pleasantly as she walked to the end of the hall, relieved to have paid her landlord at last. Once in her apartment she sought out her cell phone, which was buried under a pile of junk mail on her kitchen counter. She dialed Aki's number as she rooted around in her cabinets for something edible, extracting a cup-o-noodles and popping it in the microwave.

"Hey Aki, it's Asuka again-"

"What do you need this time?" Aki groaned. He sounded tired. She glanced at her clock.

"Were you sleeping? It's six thirty. That's bizarre no matter what kind of sleep schedule you're on."

"Yeah, well I've only been able to catch a couple hours here or there lately. I've been busy, y'know with work, keeping Hana out of trouble, a pet project and trying to have a sex life to boot."

"But you're a hacker Aki." Asuka said with a grin. "Your sex life should be internet porn and naughty chat rooms, shouldn't it? I don't think that would be too hard to manage."

"Ha ha. No really, the guy I'm seeing right now is like, perfect. He's not even thrown by my crazy schedule…well yet, I think he got a little pissed last night when I fell asleep while I was going d-"

"Whoa, whoa Aki I do not want the end of that thought!" Asuka laughed. She wondered how that was even possible. "Well what's this pet project? If it's not important you should drop it, it sounds like you've got too much going on."

"Naw, it's too fascinating. Besides if I was gonna ditch anything it would be helping Hana get decent enough grades to get into college. She's not even grateful, the little jerk." Aki complained.

"She's also fourteen."

"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of annoying high school brats how'd it go with the Kudoh kid?" Aki asked.

Asuka snorted. "Okay, I guess. Could've been better, could've been worse. You know Aki I really don't get this kid…it's like, in some ways he's a total moron-"

"He's a teenager."

"And you speak with the voice of experience oh elderly nineteen-year-old. Seriously though, it's not just that, I mean some of the things he did today were downright dumb. But then he…" She didn't want to admit he'd shown her up a couple of times in matching wits. "Sometimes his brain comes through for him. It keeps me off balance and I don't like it."

"Asuka, being thrown off balance by a boy?" He asked with barely hidden glee. "I wanna meet this kid."

"Oh, so he wasn't interesting enough when he was just Hana's prince charming?"

"Asuka darling half of the boys at that high school have been Hana's prince charming at some point, the other half are the ones that pick on her. No, if this kid can shut you up for even a second that merits a meeting."

"Lovely."

"So sweetie, did you actually have a reason for this call or was it just to shoot the shit? Damn, I'm almost afraid of what the answer's going to be." Aki muttered.

"Actually you already answered my question."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Asuka answered. Her microwave beeped as she spoke. She took out the steaming noodles and almost dropped the cup it was so hot. "I was hoping you'd be free sometime this weekend to walk Yohji through the finer points of computer work. I'm guessing he hasn't had much more experience with them than the average high school kid, maybe even less."

"Oh, sure. No problem. I'm free…let's see…"

"Sunday night?" She asked hopefully.

"Um…well if I push back…what about at eight? Too early?" He asked.

"No, no, that should be fine. For me at least, I'll have to check with the kid."

"I remember that tone: it doesn't really matter if he has something else going on, he can work around your schedule, right?"

"Exactly. I'll see you Sunday." Asuka said.

"See you then." Aki murmured.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Sunday evening Asuka pulled up in front of the Kudoh residence. She reapplied lipstick with the aid of her rearview mirror and adjusted her bulky sunglasses. They were thankfully large enough to cover the bags under her eyes that had been the result of a few more nights spent reading and another in a chat room with Aki, both pretending to be naïve teenage boys, but alas, no takers. Well, no cult takers, they both had been propositioned by a few pedophiles for cybering, and one particularly creepy scuzzbag who wanted to meet at a host club.

The heels of her boots clicked sharply on the walkway of the neat little house. She knocked sharply on the front door and waited.

And waited.

She knocked again and when there was still no response she took a step back to take a closer look at the house. "Little shit knew we were meeting today." She muttered to herself, trying to pick out which window most likely to belonged to Yohji's room, and then stooped over to look for a good sized rock to throw at it. However everything in sight had been swept clean.

She tried knocking on the door a final time, and when that didn't work she sat down on the stoop to unzip one of her boots.

Meanwhile upstairs Yohji was stretched across his bed lying on his stomach. He had a pair of bulky over ear headphones on, which had a very long cord plugged into the stereo on his desk. He was listening to Prince, head and shoulders moving slightly to the music as he skimmed through the last of the articles Asuka had left him, sliding a highlighter back and forth through his fingers until he found a sentence to circle. He used one foot to slide back the crimson vinyl pants leg of the other and scratched it with his toes.

His bed was adjacent to the window and Asuka had guessed right.

Therefore when her boot slammed against the glass, even with his headphones on the noise scared the shit out of him. He jumped up, stretching the cord of the headphones beyond their limit, which pulled the stereo a few inches from its place on his desk and sent CD cases and pens to the floor. He also banged his foot on the wall.

"Ow!" Yohji yelled, reaching over to rub his abused foot. He glanced out the window and caught Asuka waving cheerfully from the yard.

"One minute!" He yelled to her. He took off the headphones, put them on the desk, paused the CD and picked up the toppled cases before jogging down the stairs, limping slightly.

He passed by the living room where his father was laying on the couch, wearing a suit despite the fact that he didn't work on Sundays. He was passed out, under the influence of alcohol or possibly something less benign. Yohji shook his head in disgust. "Couldn't hear the door, could you Dad?"

He opened the front door with one hand and started gathering his hair into a short pony tail with the other. It was just barely long enough to tie back. Asuka was sitting on the stoop putting her boot back on.

"Hey stud. Ready to go?" She asked.

"Not quite. You didn't give me any notice you were coming."

"I told you Sunday." She said as she stood up.

"Oh, so is being ready to leave at a moment's notice more of my PI training, oh wise and respected sensei?" He asked. "What?" She was staring at him.

"N-nothing. Go get some shoes on. You're not getting in my car in slippers you European weirdo."

Yohji rolled his eyes. "Europeans wear shoes too." He muttered as he obediently turned to find socks and shoes. "Should I take the articles and the books with me?"

"Nah, you should know those already. Are you going to be a minute or should I wait out here?" She asked.

"Oh, well you can come in if you want but there's not much to chez Kudoh." He answered, holding the door open for her.

"Thank you." She watched him limp back up the stairs and guessed that had something to do with the thud and crash she'd heard after hurling her boot at his window. Try as she might she was staring at him again as he left.

Despite his flirtations, based on seeing him for the first time outside of a school uniform he was giving off the gayest vibes she had ever encountered from a human being. Sexy gay, but gay nonetheless which was rather confusing.

In addition to dark crimson vinyl pants he was also wearing a tight fitting black David Bowie t-shirt that rode up a little to show some of his abdomen and hip bones. The t-shirt collar was also low, showing a good deal of neck and collar bone. That and his hair was very well groomed for a teenage boy. If he wasn't gay he was very, very metrosexual. Hm. She'd have to ask Aki if his gaydar went off later on.

"Ready." Yohji said, returning a moment later with black shoes.

"Cool, let's roll."

Yohji followed her to her car and got into the passenger side without even attempting to open her door for her. She smiled approvingly at him. Her training was working already.

"Asuka-sensei, where are we going?" He asked.

"Sensei?" She asked with a smile.

He shrugged. "It sounded appropriate."

She laughed. "We're going to see my friend Aki. He's good with computers so I asked him to show you a few things. He's my tech and intel guy. It's a bit of a hike to see him though so on the way we're going to talk job and make sure you actually learned something from all that reading."

"Okay. That sounds reasonable."

"Recite."

Yohji earned himself another metaphorical gold star by responding quickly and seriously to the barked order. "The Garnets target emotionally vulnerable teenage boys with wealthy parents yet are apparently not financially motivated, which suggests they have an independent source of wealth from some beneficiary or outside funding, and have some secondary motivation for targeting the wealthy kids."

"Good boy." Asuka said with an approving nod. "Now, what do you make of that information?"

Yohji blinked. "Oh, I get a say? I thought I was just supposed to memorize."

"Well that would be pretty useless if nothing penetrated. C'mon kid, analyze and interpret the info." Asuka prodded.

Yohji rolled his eyes. "I did, I just wasn't sure if I was supposed to. I think it sounds like whoever founded this thing probably has a vendetta against rich people, and I'm thinking he probably was one. That would explain the source of the funds and the targeting. But isn't that too obvious?"

"Obvious doesn't always mean wrong. Some people are careless. But we don't know enough about the Garnets to assume gender yet." Asuka assessed, and caught Yohji's snort. 

"Alright amateur detective, why are you so sure the head is male? Or even one person for that matter?"

"It's a cult for guys. Doesn't that mean they'd be listening to a guy?" Yohji asked in a tone so disrespectful it bordered on insulting. No, scratch that thought, Asuka was insulted.

"Alright Yohji, let's get something straight here. I am not your freaking lit teacher or math teacher or anyone else you give lip to at school all day. I may be teaching you, but I am your boss and if you want to get paid for this then you are going to watch your tone." Asuka caught his eye roll, but her point seemed to penetrate. "I can think of many reasons why a cult leader might want to use a figurehead instead of implicating themselves. And if you form ideas about the perp without evidence to back it up your assumptions are only going to work against you. We clear on that?"

"Yeah, I'll try not to jump to conclusions. I get it." He muttered.

"Honey it's nothing to get upset over. Now if you screw up next week, then you can look all gloomy and depressed because I'll fucking kill you, I mean if your screw up doesn't get you killed first, but for right now…you can make mistakes to your little heart's content, okay?" They were at a stop light so she squeezed his hand and smiled brightly at him. He snorted in amusement, against his will from the looks of it. As an afterthought she added, "And you really don't have to worry about impressing me Yohji, you wouldn't be here if you hadn't done that."

He didn't say anything, obviously and pathetically trying to keep a 'cool' front going, but he visibly brightened which was adorable. It kind of made her want to compliment him again, but her work ethic got in the way of her desire to flirt. That and the light turned so she had to look at the road again.

"Tell me about the profiling the Garnets are doing."

"I did. They're looking for rich wieners with no friends." Yohji answered, sounding a bit exasperated.

"That's an oversimplification. Come on kid, I left you a binder heavy enough to crush a rodent's skull with. You had to get more than that out of it." She prodded.

"Okay…specifically they're looking for lonely kids, not loners. Kids who want to fit in but don't know how, like unintentional outcasts and misfits."

"And how is that relevant to us?" She asked.

"Natsuhiko's really socially awkward and apparently that bothers him. When I get in I should probably befriend him and try to help him with that, like talking to people and stuff." Yohji assessed.

Asuka considered. "I actually wasn't thinking that far ahead, but that's really good. Although I don't think you should befriend him unless you plan on keeping it up after the job's done, otherwise when you stop talking to him there's a chance he'll fall right back in with the Garnets or someone just like them. And no, I don't think of that in terms of a future rent check, when I do my job I like to do it right."

"I didn't say anything." Yohji said, waving his hands in front of him defensively. He was smiling, apparently he approved of her response. "So what were you thinking then?"

She chewed her lip, wondering how he was going to take this. "I'm thinking we'll have to play up your half-gaijin status a bit, make it look like it isolates you-"

"Not a problem." His expression soured. "It actually does isolate me, if you were curious. And like I said before, Megumi picked Otoya. I couldn't find a date to the dance so I had to skip it because the only girl who was interested was some creepy little freshmen who cut off a piece of my jacket and carries it around with her."

"Really? I'd have thought you were popular." Asuka said.

"Yeah, well I'm not. My dad's a loser, we're poor and I'm a half breed." His voice was dripping with bitterness. "But at least it'll finally be good for something."

"True enough." Dear God she hoped Hana was not that creepy little freshman he'd mentioned. "You know when I went to school there was a kid who was half-European and we actually thought she was pretty cool for it."

"Yeah? It didn't bother you guys?"

"No, actually I think it made her popular. But it was because she was part Westerner, y'know? There were a few other half gaijin kids in my grade but since they were just Koreans they were outcasts. I befriended one of them anyway, and it's been crazy useful for me. He works in the Yakuza now and he's a good source of info for me."

Yohji rolled his eyes. "A Korean Yakuza who squeals to a PI, wow. Are there anymore walking movie stereotypes I should know about?"

"I'll let you know if I think of any."

They traded tidbits about the cult for the rest of the drive to Aki's house. Asuka pulled into his driveway behind his parents' minivan. She noticed a confused look on Yohji's face. "What?"

"Your hacker friend lives with his parents?" He asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"The bumper stickers on the minivan." Yohji answered. "Unless he hearts bingo and is proud of his honor student at…my high school. Huh. He has a sibling at my school?"

"Yeah."

"Anyone I know?"

"Come on kiddo, Aki's waiting." She answered quickly, getting out of the car in a rush.

"Asuka-sensei, why aren't you answering my question?" Yohji asked with a laugh. With his long legs he caught up to her quickly even though she was power walking to the front door. She still didn't answer him even after ringing the bell, but luckily he was amused by it. Then Hana answered the door and his expression turned to stunned recognition. He also compulsively reached a hand to the back of his shirt, and she guessed Hana was the jacket mutilator.

Hana looked like she was going to faint. Her eyes had widened to twice their size and her face paled. She was wearing a baggy grey t-shirt that was covered with paint splatters, her hair was in a messy bun with a paint brush poking out of it and she had on pajama pants with rubber duck print and fuzzy, mop like electric green slippers.

"Y-yohji-sempai, what are you doing here?" She asked, voice barely audible it was so breathy.

Asuka frowned. "Aki didn't tell you we were coming over Sweetie?"

"A-aki? He, oh that…AKI!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" She screeched. Her face went bright red. She turned and ran back into the house. They could hear Aki laughing from his office, which was located right off the hallway.

"You know Hana-chan is my stalker freshman, right?" Yohji whispered out of the corner of his mouth. He had a very fixed smile on his face.

"Aki mentioned that, yeah." Asuka whispered back. "Can we come in guys, or are you too busy killing each other?" Asuka called into the house.

Aki emerged from his office, bright blue glasses dangling from one ear and a wide, shit eating grin on his face, but clearly not in the least bit dead. He was pushing Hana back with one 

bony hand. Hana finally gave up and ran away crying about how he'd ruined her life. They heard her bedroom door slam barely five seconds after that.

"That was really mean Aki, even for you." Asuka snorted.

Aki shrugged. "She's an annoying brat, she deserved it. Hi Yohji, nice to meet you. I'm really sorry about my sister. She's a sweet kid but, you know, fixated." Aki said as he shook Yohji's hand.

"Eh, it's cool. So…you're the hacker?"

"What, I'm not what you expected?" Aki asked. He was at least as tall as Yohji and actually even more slender, being possibly ten pounds underweight and all angles. His hair was short, spiky and dyed a teal that his glasses complimented, at least once he straightened them again. He was wearing a Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles t-shirt with dress pants and the same mop like slippers as Hana, only in neon purple. "You thought you were gonna meet a suave hacker instead of a nerdy shut in who lives with his parents? Oh Asuka, this kid is adorable."

"I know." Asuka ruffled his hair, and mouthed to Aki, 'watch his nose'. It did indeed crinkle as Yohji edged away from her and Aki clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

They all jumped as music suddenly blared from the general direction of Hana's room. Aki let out a long suffering sigh. "Great, she's started with the anime music. She's trying to get back at me. You know I can sing every opening and closing song to Inu-Yasha now, even when it's in English? I sucked at English in school."

Asuka laughed. "Oh I know, we did start dating when your parents hired me to tutor you. I still swear you only started flirting with me to distract me from verb conjugations."

"That is not true. I thought you were very pretty and interesting-"

"Interesting maybe." Asuka turned to Yohji. "I was starting college, already living alone and paying for everything myself. I didn't have enough time to invest in my looks like, at all. I was always wearing the most unflattering sweats and my hair was a puffy ball of split ends held together by a scrunchie and bobby pins."

"Somehow I can't picture that." Yohji said. He looked like he was trying. Then he glanced at Aki again. "You two dated?"

"Yeah, for a couple years. But Asuka did a study abroad in the States and the distance killed the romance." Aki answered. "I think she expected me to be single when she got back too, which is almost insulting."

"You're on the computer for like eighteen hours of every day! You don't talk to real people! It was totally reasonable to expect you to be single when I got back! But no, we've never been single at the same time since then." She said, shaking her head. "I still haven't met your new boy, and I need to decide if he's worthy or not."

"B-boy? You're dating a boy?" Yohji asked. He took a compulsive step away from Aki, who, far from being offended, widened his smirk and took a couple steps closer to Yohji and wrapped an arm around his waist, pinning him to his side.

"Yes, I'm dating a very pretty boy now. Boys, girls, it's all good. Now come on into my office so I can show you some basics."

Yohji shot a pleading look at Asuka as he was dragged into the room. Asuka smirked at him. "I'm going to talk to Hana and see if I can get her to let up on the music, okay boys? Have fun!"

She walked down the hall to Hana's room and knocked on the door. "Sweetie it's Asuka, not your evil brother! Can you open the door?!" She had to yell to hear herself over the music.

Hana opened the door, blocking the doorway. Her cheeks were tearstained.

"Oh honey, are you okay?" She asked. "I swear I had no intention of surprising you like that."

"I was painting. I smell like turpenoid and I look disgusting and he saw me." She whimpered.

"Well you know what though? That means he saw you being creative, doing something that sets you apart from other girls. That's a good thing, isn't it? Now he knows you're talented!" Asuka said brightly.

Hana hung her head, staring at her mop slippers as she considered. "You think so Asuka?"

"Well that's what I would think but we both know boys are a little slow on the uptake. Can I hang out with you while your idiot brother teaches Yohji computer nerd stuff?" She asked.

Hana nodded and let Asuka into her room. She also turned down the music so they could hear each other.

"What was that from?" Asuka asked, indicating the CD player.

"Cowboy Bebop. I'm really into it right now. Do you want to see what I was painting?"

"Sure."

The Murakamis were a well off family, meaning that not only did they have the money to indulge their children's creative passions they also had the space to accommodate Aki's computer paraphernalia and for Hana to have an art desk, school desk, bed, easel and vanity in her bedroom. There was a dip in the ceiling that sort of cut the room in half so that part of it was like a normal bedroom and part of it was like an art studio. Hana lead Asuka over to the art desk and showed her her latest works, which kept them entertained for the better part of three hours. Hana really was very talented, if not a little eccentric and awkward, and Asuka enjoyed talking to her and trying to boost her confidence.

"So…why were you with Yohji-sempai. You two aren't…dating, right?" She mumbled.

Asuka laughed. "Hana he's five years younger than me!"

"You dated my brother and he's three years younger than you." She pointed out accusingly. "But I'd rather you date Aki again than date Yohji."

"I know Hana, you'd rather date him, right?" She asked.

Hana chewed her lip, eyes trained anywhere but Asuka again. "I don't know. I really, really, really like him, but he's an upperclassman and he's better looking than me and I'd just feel really stupid and ugly around him all the time."

"Hana! You're a beautiful girl! Do not let your stupid brother tell you otherwise. You're also smart and like, a genius painter. I mean look at this stuff. You know what I see for you after high school? I see you opening a gallery somewhere. And your parents are actually so cool they'd help you. Or maybe traveling a bit, going to like Paris…Rome…New York?" She suggested. Hana smiled at her.

"You think so?"

"Oh yeah. I lived in New York for awhile, I think you'd have a blast there. And hey, when you're a big famous artist you have gotta take me to France with you and take me around the Louvre and tell me all about artist stuff. And maybe we can drag Yohji with us and put him to work as our translator. He's part French you know."

"I know! He's fluent too so he actually could. So you're not dating him?"

"Nope. We're working together, that's it." Asuka said, diplomatically leaving out Yohji's infatuation with her.

Hana grinned. "Do you think I have a chance with him?"

"Well, right now you're being a little intense for him…honey did you actually tear off a piece of his jacket to carry around with you?"

Hana had the decency to blush. "Um…I'd rather not talk about that. Yeah, I thought I should probably stop doing things like that. So I already scared him away then."

"I didn't say that. You just need to tone it down. But hey, who knows? Some guys might find that sort of idolatry flattering…"

"But probably not." Hana finished. "Got it. Okay, well I'm going to get changed into something that doesn't make me look homeless. Do you think it'd be a good idea to go in there and offer them something to drink or should I just hide in my room?"

"Sweetie you go in there and flirt away. I'll be there to elbow and pinch your brother every time he tries to embarrass you." Asuka promised. Hana's toothy smile was simply adorable.

"Thanks Asuka! You are the best girlfriend Aki's ever had. I wish you were going to be my big sister."

Asuka smiled back. "That would have been cool, wouldn't it? I'll see you in a few minutes."

She shook her head as she walked down the hall to Aki's office. Adorable though she was when you got to know her, there was no way for poor innocent boys like Yohji to tell that. What in the world had possessed her to tear off pieces of his clothes? What was next, taking a lock of hair?

She found Yohji sitting in front of the computer with Aki standing behind him leaning over his shoulder, occasionally putting his hand over Yohji's and directing the mouse. He'd slid his fingers between Yohji's which made the action somewhat more like a caress than teaching merited, but on the plus side Yohji didn't look uncomfortable around him anymore. Three hours of what Asuka accurately figured to be constant teasing must have scared the homophobe out of him.

"Are you boys getting along?" Asuka asked.

"Very well thanks Asuka-san!" Aki answered brightly, standing upright again to regard her with a wink. "Your boy's a quick study. He's actually, like remembering the shit I'm telling him, it's great! I showed him how to set up an account and hide it from the owners of the computer, and you know, do all that basic secure-the-line crap so we'll be able to talk to him once he's inside."

"Awesome. That is great news." She said approvingly.

"Plus he showed me how to make nearly untraceable viruses. I'm having fun with this one. Oh, and he hacked me into Myspace-"

"What space?" Asuka asked.

Aki snorted. "God you're like a dinosaur. It's a web thing, kids make pages and leave messages and post pictures and blogs and stuff."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so anyway I found Otoya's page. C'mere." Yohji beckoned her forward and Asuka obediently looked at the computer. Asuka grinned, snorted and then bent double laughing. They'd changed it so that his user name was Barakumin and all his journal entries were now headed 'unclean', 'filthy', 'impure' and things of the sort. There was a picture posted of Otoya with his arm around Megumi, both were dressed formally so it was likely from the dance from the other night. They'd changed the caption so that it read 'me and my airhead, i'll dump the 

bitch as soon as she puts out (or maybe she'll leave me since my prick's about as large as a toddler's)'

"You guys are cruel, you know that?" She laughed.

"Hey, cruelty is an excellent way to teach kids something and make it stick. The only English I remember is yo' mamma jokes you know." Aki reminded her.

"He was telling me what it was like to date you Asuka-sensei." Yohji added. He pulled up Aki's Myspace page. "And he showed me this."

"Showed you what?" Asuka demanded as Yohji opened his photo page, while Aki groaned.

Asuka stared in horror at a line of pictures of her from her college days. Her hair was indeed frizzed out, random bits held down at odd angles by bobby pins. She'd had her nose pierced for about a week, and six of the pictures were taken during that week. In some of the pictures she was wearing heavy eye liner, one even had her in pig tails and all featured her old, hideous, two sizes too big cherry red doc martin boots. She was wearing overall cutoffs and a flannel shirt in one picture.

"I was in college." She said weakly.

Yohji's expression was pure glee. He clicked on a thumbnail and opened a picture of Asuka and Aki sitting together on a park bench. Asuka's hair was the color of Yohji's pants and in pig tails. She was wearing her clunky boots, a faded grey tank top and baggy jeans while holding an acoustic guitar. Aki was wrapping his skinny arms around her from behind. His hair was long, stringy and black, bangs obscuring most of his face. Having his hair long had made his full lips even more effeminate looking somehow. They looked like a couple of lesbians.

"So you play guitar?" Yohji asked.

"It was freshman year. I learned a couple of songs." Asuka snapped. "Why did you show him these? No, why did you post them on the internet for everyone to see!? Christ Aki, I don't even show my own mother pictures of me from college! I, I didn't even think I posed for this many pictures!"

"I thought you'd be pissed." Aki muttered. "But really Asuka, you can't use the college excuse, you only graduated last year. Your Pulp Fiction-Uma Thurman chic thing is disgustingly recent."

"Uurgh…" She moaned.

They all looked up at a knock from the doorway. Hana blushed at them. She'd changed into a pair of purple jeans and a black sweater. Her hair was brushed and her feet were free of hideous slippers.

"Hi guys. Um, I was just wondering if you wanted something to drink?" She had a tray of juice boxes with her.

"Sure! Thanks Hana!" Asuka said brightly.

"Thank you Hana-chan." Yohji said politely as he took a juice box. Hana's face turned scarlet and she clearly almost dropped the tray. Aki was going to say something but Asuka elbowed him painfully in the stomach before he managed it.

"Asuka-sensei, are we going to be leaving soon? It is a school night." Yohji pointed out.

Hana hovered awkwardly by the doorway, staring at him. Asuka tried to catch her eye so she could signal the girl to try talking to him, but it was impossible. So she answered Yohji.

"Yeah, I guess we should get going. Need you awake to play cult-bait tomorrow."

"Wh-what? Cult bait?" Hana squeaked.

"Oh no, oh Hana honey don't worry. It's nothing big, I just needed a little infiltration help for work and Yohji's kindly agreed to help me out. It's not anything to worry about, I promise." The poor thing looked terrified and Asuka's assurances didn't seem to be helping.

"Is this about those creepy kids in the cafeteria?" Hana asked. "The ones who wear the ugly rock necklaces and those weird head-scarves?"

"Maybe. Are the necklaces dark red stone?" Asuka asked. Hana nodded. "They're recruiting kids in your cafeteria?"

"Yup. They tried to get my friend Toshiki to talk to them but he thought they were annoying." Hana said with a shrug. "They seemed like wieners to me."

Yohji smirked. "Told ya so."

"Hey, I never said they weren't wieners!" Asuka snapped. Hana looked proud of herself. She beat a hasty retreat lest she embarrass herself after her small victory of making her crush smile.

"Alright kiddo, let's get rolling. Thanks a bunch Aki."

"No problem Asuka, glad to do it." Aki answered. He kissed her on the cheek and walked them to the front door.

Yohji was quiet on the way back and Asuka left him to his thoughts. She turned on the radio, couldn't find anything she liked and ended up pushing in a mix tape. She sang along softly with the eclectic music she'd started liking while studying in America and before she knew it they were back at Yohji's house. She turned to face him when he didn't get out of the car and noticed he was leaning against the window and snoring lightly.

"Yohji. Sweetie, you're home. Hon? Stop drooling on my car." She said, gently nudging his shoulder.

"Huh? What…? Oh." He blinked a couple times and rubbed his eyes. "Yay, home sweet hell hole."

"Sorry?"

"Nothing. I'll see you tomorrow Asuka-sensei." He murmured. He reached to open the door then stopped, an anxious look crossing his face. "No, no oh shit no!" He moaned.

"What is it?" She glanced past him and caught sight of a man in a wrinkled business suit moving at a quick pace, though less than steadily, towards her car. In a moment he was hammering on her window. Yohji had shrunk down in his seat.

Asuka rolled the window down. "Can I help you sir?"

"You can giff me m'son back you fucking whore! Where the hell've you been Yohji?! It's fucking minnight!" Yoshikazu Kudoh slurred.

"Maybe you shouldn't be yelling then Dad. We do have neighbors." Yohji answered in a tone that was much braver than his posture. Asuka instinctively pushed the button on the locks. It seriously looked like Yohji's father wanted to hit him.

"Don't take that friggin tone wif me you ungrateful-I-I-I been up worryin' over you an yer out with some hussie-"

"Excuse me sir, but you are being unforgivably rude. Now I'm sorry that Yohji didn't tell you where he was going but he's home safe and sound now. There's no reason at all to make a scene." Asuka snapped.

"Alrigh, alrigh…get outta th'car."

"Excuse me?"

"I ain't lettin' some dumb broad talk ta me that way. Get outta the car!" Yoshikazu slurred.

"Fuck this." Asuka said as she stepped on the gas. As Yohji's dad had been leaning heavily on the car he toppled into the street with a loud "Oof!"

Yohji twisted around in the seat and stared behind him.

"Fuck! Oh fuck, oh fuck! Why did you do that? He's going to kill me when I go home. You know I can't go home tonight now, right?" He asked.

"I know." She snapped. "I'm sorry, I could have handled that better. I really truly hate being called a broad and Yohji, hon, I couldn't let you go into the house with him like that. Your father's an addict, isn't he?"

Yohji frowned. She didn't really expect him to answer, what with only having met last week and the topic being so personal. She tended to offend people with personal questions and dead-on observations like that a lot. Yohji, however, wasn't offended, just saddened. He answered her in a dull tone. "Y-yeah. Since Mom died, really. I mean he drank a little before that but now, now…" He didn't finish his sentence.

"Right. Well you can crash with me tonight and if we're really lucky when you get home from school tomorrow he won't remember that lovely little outburst." Asuka decided.

They drove in silence for another few minutes, Yohji staring out the window now wide awake and frowning while Asuka tried to slip back into the groove she'd had with her mix tape before. The awkward tension was killing her. "Yohji I'm so sorry."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. There's nothing okay about that situation. I'm sorry your mother died, I'm sorry your father's such a disappointment, I'm sorry your classmates suck and I'm sorry Megumi was too much of a ditz to pick you. You don't deserve any of that shit, you're a good kid." She said with conviction.

Yohji smiled a small, sad smile at her. "Thank you Asuka. But I'm glad you picked me at least. This week's not a total loss now, you know?"

* * *

"Okay, there is a couch underneath all of this junk, I promise." Asuka said, scooping up an armful of clothes, shoes, magazines and other accumulated filth. She moved it to a giant circle chair which was already piled high with junk.

"Housekeeper on vacation?" Yohji joked.

"Something like that, yeah." She said as she took another armload to the chair. "I'll grab you a blanket and pillow…from somewhere. Shit, where'd I put that stuff? Oh, do you need to borrow pajamas too?" She asked, guessing that the vinyl pants weren't terribly comfortable.

"I guess." He looked a little awkward. "Asuka-sensei, your apartment is a dump."

She snorted. "I know, but I'm just a snoop detective, I don't rake in that much. That's why I had to hire you, remember?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be right back. Try to make yourself comfortable, okay?" She walked into her bedroom and pulled her hair out of her ponytail so that it fell down her back. She stripped down to her bra and panties and opened her closet. There were a few pairs of pajamas clean, but not much that a boy would wear, which left her with a flowery flannel nightgown her mother had given her for her birthday two years ago. Clearly that wasn't actually an option. She opted for work out clothes instead. They were comfy enough to double as pajamas.

The extra pillow and blanket turned out to be buried under a mountain of shoes at the bottom of her closet. She carried them out to the living room and threw them on the couch, along with her favorite three-sizes-too-large-but-there's-a-pull-string-so-it-doesn't-matter PJ pants and a thin t-shirt.

"Bathroom's that tiled closet off the kitchen. There's a spare toothbrush behind the mirror. I'll see you bright and early so we can get your stuff before you have to be at school. G'night Yohji."

"Good night Asuka." He answered politely.

A/N I want to reiterate thanks to my reviewers thus far, especially for the feedback on Asuka. It really is hard to write a characterization of a Weiss canon female that doesn't suck, but I think I've got her down pretty well by now. Thanks to my friend Mel (not sure what her current pen name is) for the info on Japanese society that has gone into this fic-this would be the result of having conversations with her while she was doing a research job. And once again, I am not encouraging dissing the barakumin, my characters are just bigots, apparently. Whoo.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Y-Yohji-sempai I, um, I'm not here to be creepy, I promise, it's just that my brother asked me to give this to you last night, h-he said he forgot," Hana stammered. She looked very much like she would rather crawl into one of the lockers that lined the hallway rather than talk to Yohji while he was in a knot of other upperclassmen.

"Thank you Hana-chan," Yohji answered with a smile as he accepted the envelope. "Did he tell you what it was?"

Hana shook her head. "He j-just said it was important. Um, so h-how are you, ah…" She trailed off awkwardly. He wasn't paying attention to her, and had missed her pathetic attempt at making conversation. Hana chewed her lip, hovered next to the small group of upperclassmen for another moment or so while Yohji opened his envelope and started reading a paper he'd pulled out of it, then turned tail and ran into the nearest girls' room.

"Isn't she the weirdo who cut your coat?" Keisuke, another senior, asked.

Yohji nodded absently. He'd finished with the note and was now looking in the envelope for something else.

"So…why is her brother giving you packages?" Keisuke continued.

"Be a little more nosy Keisuke, I dare you," Yohji answered flippantly. Keisuke rolled his eyes.

"Well be a little more secretive Yohji. I was just curious. I know I wouldn't hang out with weirdoes like the Murakamis," Keisuke said. "Is that where you were Friday night? We missed you at the dance bro."

"Yeah, we coulda used you there to talk the girls down, man, they were being crazy," Another friend, Hideki, put in. Hideki was famous for putting his foot in his mouth and Yohji suspected part of the reason he'd gotten in with this particular clique was his tendency to use his charms to help Hideki out of those spots.

"Crazy how?" Yohji asked, even though he really didn't care to know. He would have liked to go to that dance and whatever 'horror' stories his wealthy and popular friends came up with would still not make him happy he'd missed it.

"Well for starters they had karaoke. I mean come on, we were there to dance, not sing. I think this is proof that girls should not be on the planning committee for these things! that idea totally reeks of Reiko Tanaka," Hideki ranted.

"Here here," Keisuke said. "Not that you would have minded Yohji, I'm sure you would have just used it to show off or something."

"Gotta compensate for that foreign blood somehow, right?" A passing boy commented. Yohji recognized him, Matsui Kenji. He was a rude little shit that sat near him in history class. No one liked him very much.

This would have been a good opportunity for his two 'friends' to stand up for him and prove that this was in fact a friendship, with a certain amount of giving on both sides. However Hideki and Keisuke both sported badly concealed smirks at the comment they'd blatantly both heard and neither made a move to either stop and insult Kenji or console Yohji.

The bell rang and they headed to their first class together, to cheat off Yohji's papers and continue discussing the dance in whispers throughout the lecture even though Yohji was visibly uncomfortable with the subject. His status in his clique was cemented by the end of the class: he felt like a tool.

At lunch Yohji took care to sit by himself. It wasn't like it was that hard. Keisuke and Hideki were sitting with their girlfriends, Keiko and Nanami, and Nanami being best friends with Megumi meant that _that_ happy couple was at the lunch table, and Yohji excusing himself was not only understandable, it was expected. On the plus side he caught a few snippets of Otoya bemoaning his Myspace catastrophe before he was out of earshot.

He found an empty table in the back of the cafeteria by a window, and set his lunch tray down and picked at it for a few minutes, but he wasn't really hungry. His stomach felt like a jumble of knots. He wasn't looking forward to the evening. When his father came home there was a good chance he'd end up dead, and the sad part was how little of that statement was exaggeration.

That and he wasn't really sure what it was Asuka and Aki wanted him to do. He didn't know how to be cult-bait, and if he didn't figure something out soon then Asuka might start smacking him around the same way his father did. It just wasn't shaping up to be a very good day, and he was in a bad mood besides.

Yohji reached into his bag and took out Aki's envelope, reading the note back for the dozenth time that morning.

Hey kid,

So Asuka says you're pretty hot shit when it comes to reading people and schmoozing them over (or whatever you call it) so I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping me out with a side project I've got going? It's pretty interesting. I haven't told Asuka about it yet though so don't say anything, I don't want her taking it over on me (we know how she is) anywho, whatever you decide get in touch with me. You've got my screen name and my email, right? Cool.

-Aki XP XP XP

PS no pressure either way

Yohji crumbled the note up, but for some reason he couldn't actually trash the thing, so he stuck it in the bottom of his bag with his bio notebook. What made that crazy homo think Yohji wanted to spend more time with him than he absolutely had to?

Unfortunately one of the downsides of being able to see through people's motivations and justifications as well as Yohji could was also being able to turn that same scrutiny on himself. It was very hard for him to lie to himself convincingly, and even as he thought up nasty names for Aki he knew it was petty jealousy that was driving him. He was insanely jealous that Aki had dated Asuka, and Asuka seemed ready to date him again at the first possible chance. Aki was closer in age to her, had a bond with her, he interested her beyond being a means to an end… Yohji seriously doubted the beautiful, fiery young woman would ever want to see him again after this business with the Garnets wrapped.

Megumi's mindless giggles reached him from his "friends'" table. He scowled, deciding he was done with high school girls then and there. Maybe he was too fresh from a recent burn, but suddenly dating an older woman was a lot more appealing than dating a younger one.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Yohji, sitting alone at a table lost in thought was the best possible façade he could have presented to the Garnet recruiters. He was being observed, although he was too distracted to notice, alternating between heavy bursts of self pity and unrealistic plans to seduce Asuka.

Asuka herself picked up on it. She'd spent much of the day posing as a lost substitute teacher, shamelessly flirting when she had to to keep from being thrown out of the school, and had taken up a post in the back of the cafeteria once the lunches had started with a steady supply of papers she was pretending to grade.

In actuality the stacks were made up of everything she'd submitted in high school and college, and a good chunk of Aki's old school work as well. Occasions like this made her happy she was a pack rat. She'd put on a pair of headphones and was bobbing her head in time to music that wasn't actually playing, which worked as a deterrent against friendly staff introducing themselves to her. All in all, her ruse worked, and she'd become a pretty invisible presence in the back of the room. Yohji and Hana hadn't even noticed her, but then she was dressing in much mousier clothing than usual, her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and she was wearing unflattering brown and black spotted glasses.

A pair of teens just slightly too old to be attending high school were circling the cafeteria, pointing at various kids and whispering about them. They were wearing the school uniforms, but the uniforms were offset by brown scarves wrapped around their heads and both were wearing knotted leather necklaces with large garnet pendants.

Asuka reached into her purse and extracted her cell phone. She made a fuss with it, pretending she had difficulty working it and muttered about never being able to get her messages. In actuality she was fully able to work her phone and managed to take a quick picture of the duo. While pretending to struggle with the phone she checked the quality of the picture and satisfied herself that she'd be able to see the kids' faces.

* * *

"Hey Asuka," Yohji greeted listlessly. He'd been walking home from school when the detective pulled up alongside him and rolled down her window, beaming at him from behind her large sunglasses.

"Hey Yohji. Hop in, I'm on my way to Aki's to talk work. And Hana's got art club today so you don't even have to worry about being stalked."

"Alright." He gloomily slid into the passenger side, a nervous frown on his face.

"Good work today," She commented as she slid back into traffic.

"What do you mean? I didn't find anything out."

"Of course you did, or, you let me find shit out. I was tailing you, and so were some Garnet recruiters. They appear to be interested in you."

"You were tailing me? I didn't see you once today." He'd been thinking about Asuka a lot throughout the day, it bothered him that he'd missed her.

"I was playing lost and incompetent substitute teacher. It was pretty easy to make myself invisible at your school, by the by. Your classmates aren't the most empathetic kids I've ever seen-"

"They suck," Yohji corrected.

"Yeah, yeah they do. But that's working in our favor for the moment."

When they got to the Murakami house Asuka pulled her car into the driveway next to a pricy looking convertible, which caught her attention. Aki's parents certainly didn't drive anything quite that fun. "Hm, that must belong to his new boy."

"If he has his…_boyfriend_…um, over, does that mean we should come back later?" Yohji asked, obviously still not completely comfortable with Aki's sexual preference.

"Now Yohji, I know we've only known each other for less than a week, but I think you already know me well enough to know the answer to that," Asuka said with a smirk as she got out of the car. Yohji shook his head but he still followed her, however reluctantly.

She knocked loudly on the front door and waited.

After five full minutes of knocking and waiting Yohji shot her a look implying they should leave. Asuka responded by taking out her cell phone and speed dialing Aki. She walked over to the window by his office, where she could make out his obnoxiously loud ring tone through the window. When the ring tone ended she dialed again. It only took two more times before Aki finally answered the front door.

He looked irritated, to say the least, and had clearly been having a good make out session (if not more) with his boy. His hair was mussed, his glasses were missing and his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a chest hickey.

"_Can I help you_?" He demanded.

"So cranky Aki! I'm calling in for that date of mine you ruined," Asuka said pleasantly, walking to the front steps.

Aki's expression quickly changed from righteous anger to pleading. "Oh come on Asuka, do you have to call it in now? Hana's still with her art club and Mom and Dad are at a museum fund raiser. I have the house to myself for another hour-"

"Which makes it a good time to get PI work done," Asuka pointed out.

"No, it makes it a good time for kinky sex!" Aki exploded.

"Well can't you go to your boy's house for that? Or does he live with his parents too? Come on Aki, you pulled me away from my date with Rei Dinawa when he was going to take me to see a chick band and possibly father my first child. You owe me."

Aki scowled. "Fine, but wait in the den a few minutes, okay?"

"Sure."

He let the two of them in and Asuka led Yohji up the stairs to the den while Aki headed for his bedroom. Asuka hovered by the window while Yohji sat awkwardly on the futon.

When Aki's new boy left the house Asuka was able to get a quick look at him out the large window. She quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You're dating a Westerner Aki?" She asked as her friend entered the den.

"Yeah, Nikolai's foreign. That a problem with you, New Yorker?"

"No, just wasn't expecting it, that's all," Asuka answered. "I thought you said he was a looker."

"He is!" Aki objected. She faced him with a questionable look on her face. "Well _I_ think he is and you're already in enough hot water without insulting the love of my life!"

"Love of your life huh?" She asked with a smirk. "Love of your past three weeks, more like. But we're here to talk business. Here." She tossed him her phone. "I've got a picture of some Garnet recruiters. Can you work your hacker mojo and dig up some dirt on them for me?"

"Doubt it, camera phones suck for…actually this is pretty good. Where the hell did you get this camera phone?" He asked.

"I know a guy who knows a guy who likes to tinker with phones. Methinks wonder boy over here's going to be recruited by the Garnets real soon. They were hovering around him all through lunch today," Asuka said, patting Yohji on the shoulder. "All he's gotta do is keep playing angsty high school kid."

"Well c'mon back downstairs. The family computer's not going to do us much good," Aki said, referring to a dusty PC in the corner of the room. He led his guests into his office, downloaded the picture from Asuka's phone onto his computer and hacked into the school's files.

"I think those kids are a little older than high school age," Asuka said, leaning over his shoulder.

"Yeah, me too. But it would make sense for them to be recent graduates. They'd know the building, have the uniforms and not look completely out of place," Aki explained.

"Plus they'd be able to make up some lame excuse about meeting friends if anyone noticed they don't belong," Yohji chimed in. He leaned in from Aki's other side. "Wait a minute, I know one of them."

"Do you know his name?" Asuka asked.

"I think…I think his name was Fujiwara. Hideki Fujiwara, yeah. His dad works with my dad."

"Fujiwara huh. Yohji, where's your dad work?" Aki asked, pulling up a new window.

"He's a pencil pusher for Seiyu." Yohji answered, referring to a department store chain.

"Ew, evil corporation." Asuka frowned.

"Oh ho, the snoop detective is criticizing someone else's line of work is she?" Aki said as he set himself up a faux shareholder's account with Seiyu as well as a duplicate of the CEO's log-in and a few other tech positions. "There. I'll watch them for any suspicious transactions and keep you guys posted."

"Are the Garnets embezzling?" Yohji asked.

"If they are we'll know. It's still likely that the funds for the group come from a private source though," Asuka answered.

"Just because Fujiwara's dad works for Seiyu doesn't mean the Garnets are involved with the place. It's just a department store," Yohji said.

"I've got a hunch though. Their money has to be coming from somewhere and you said the culties are targeting rich boys. Getting them to dig up access to their parents' money is as good a motive as any. The Fujiwaras are well off, right?" Aki guessed.

"Yeah. His dad's pretty high up in the company. They stopped talking to us when my dad became an embarrassment."

"See? Okay, now let's ID this other brat."

It took almost an hour of scrolling through senior photos to match the second recruiter to his name, but they managed to nail him. "Tsuzuki Kato. His father is a high up in an electronics company. Well? Are we jumping on the financial motive bandwagon or are you guys still crying emotional issues?" Aki asked.

"Financial influence with emotional issues as primary motivation?" Yohji said.

"I'm on the 'we still don't know enough' bandwagon myself. But we've had a good day. You boys want to phone in some food or should we get going?" Asuka asked.

"I'll get some menus." Aki continued typing for another moment, sending out some search or virus or whatever else it was he did, before heading to the kitchen.

"How was your dad this morning?" Asuka asked.

Yohji frowned. "Alright. Well I mean he was passed out, but as long as I'm in at a decent hour I think he'll be okay."

"That's good. Look, if you ever need to stay over my place again for any reason, just call me, okay?"

"It's fine, Asuka," He snapped. She bristled.

"Does he hit you?"

"Look it's not your business if he does or if he doesn't so let's just talk about work, alright?"

"Hey…sorry. I'm just trying to help," She said softly.

"Well I don't need help with this. I've only gotta live with him another few months and then I'm done."

"Oh. What are you planning on doing?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I don't really have a plan yet. Get a job, get a place. Y'know, normal stuff."

"Gonna go to college?"

"Nah, I'm done with school."

"You know you're not going to accomplish much if you don't go to college," She pointed out.

He smirked at her. "Just because my mother's dead, it doesn't mean I want the vacancy filled. Besides I don't want all that much. Money doesn't bother me, I just need enough to get by."

"Same here," Asuka agreed. "Although I'd like to quit the snoop jobs at some point, but for now it pays the bills and I get to use my intellect. It'd be nice if I could do something with my degree though."

"What'd you study?"

"Business. But so far in Tokyo that makes me a secretary. I'd like to think there's a company somewhere that'll give me a fair shake despite my gender, but I'm thinking I'll have to travel abroad for that. No one here wants to give a decent position to someone they expect will ditch the company and become a housewife," She explained.

"Ah. So wait, you're not planning on becoming a housewife? Like ever?"

Asuka scrunched her face up in distaste. "Pop out kids and keep myself locked up in a house with them? No thank you. You know, when I was staying in New York that was one thing I absolutely loved about the place…I was friends with a lot of girls and only one of them was going to be a housewife. It was so not weird to want to have a career, like a real one that wasn't just being a glorified secretary until you started popping out babies, and I loved it."

"Guys I have a coupon for that new Thai place downtown. Sound good?" Aki announced as he reentered.

"Sure," They answered in unison.

* * *

Playing up teen angst had the unintentional side effect of forcing Yohji to wallow in it for the brunt of the school day. By the end of the week he was more irritable than he'd ever been in his life (with one important prolonged exception).

Yohji stalked into his house, threw his backpack against the wall, and thudded up the stairs, intent on hiding in his room for the rest of the school year. Somewhere in his mind he acknowledged the fact that Asuka, plucky and stubborn little detective that she was, would not let him get away with his plans of hermitude. He still didn't expect to be deterred as quickly as he was though.

Aki was waiting for him. Draped over his bed playing a Game Boy waiting for him. "Yo."

"Yo? What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"Your dad let me in. I started to explain that I was looking for you and how you're friends with my little sister, I know, a total lie, but he was in such haste to go meet some friend of his that he just let me in before I could finish," Aki answered as he sat up and shut down the video game.

"My dad doesn't have friends. He was probably off to meet a dealer," Yohji corrected. He sat down at his desk and faced the smiling hacker. "Is this pay back for the other night or something?"

Aki laughed. "Oh hell no! When you get your pay back for that you'll know. Why, is there some cute little thing downstairs waiting to give you crazy-amazing orgasms?"

Yohji didn't bother answering.

Aki shrugged. "Then it's not a comparable situation. I was actually wondering if Hana managed to pass off that note for me. I haven't heard from you yet kiddo."

"I'm still thinking about it. Plus you were pretty vague in that note Aki. I don't really know what you're asking me to do."

"Not much, really. See I think better when I talk, so I like to have someone to bounce ideas off of when I work. Asuka's the same way, that's why when we work together we work together really well. And she said you're good with observations, which as far as I've seen is true. So basically I just want to chat with you about this project I've got going and see if it helps get my mental juices a-flowing. Never hurts to have another angle on this stuff."

"Right. Well what is this project?"

Aki stood up and started pacing. Suddenly he was charged with energy. "I have to admit despite almost a month on this thing I'm still not really sure. See, I was playing around with the system for one of the museums my parents get all philanthropy-y for, just to fuck with them, and I found some stuff there that doesn't belong. I mean some shady stuff, and it's all tied to the Egyptian wing. So I kept going from there, and spread out to other museums, which not only lead me to other organizations but also to other continents. This guy, or rather these people because they've got way too much activity going on to be one person, they're frickin' everywhere!"

"Uh huh." Yohji didn't sound terribly impressed.

"Okay, so they're not exactly everywhere. It looks like they've been trying to establish a presence in North America but someone else is pushing them back, and that person or people is into the same sort of shit."

"Which is? I'm sorry, Egyptology doesn't sound terribly intimidating to me," Yohji explained.

"Occultism," Aki said. "Ancient Egypt is just a tiny facet of the big picture. They've got their hands in museums because they're stealing artifacts and putting in fakes. The electronic oh-noes I initially caught on to were for the sake of frying their security and fudging the shipping records so that they could get the switches done. See I was planning on screwing with their records as a prank but these guys are doing it for crime."

"This is a project to you? Why don't you just go to the police or Interpol or something?"

"They're well connected and well funded. Besides, I still don't have anything concrete, just a lot of really interesting circumstantial stuff. And I haven't traced anything to its source yet."

"Huh. So where are these crazy thief occultists based? Are they in Japan?"

"They've got a presence here, but everything bounces back to Europe so far. Mostly Germany but there's a lot of activity in the former Soviet Union countries too," Aki looked particularly excited now that Yohji seemed curious. "So whaddya think?"

Yohji shrugged. "I'm not too sure what to think. What are you trying to do?"

Aki frowned. "Do? Find out what these guys are doing!"

"Yeah, but what are you going to do about it when you find out? I mean you said they're connected to the police, right?"

"Well I could mess up their plans with fucking amazing viruses, that's what I could do," Aki said defensively. "C'mon kid, we get to play super hero here and go after really big and powerful evil guys. Maybe they're evil commies! I mean, they're from communist-"

"Former communist countries," Yohji corrected. "And you said you didn't even know that for sure. I don't know Aki, I've got enough going on right now without some super hero game."

Aki's face fell. "Okay. Well still don't tell Asuka about it, okay? I don't want her to nag me to death."

"Sure."

"So how are things going on that front?"

"What?" Yohji's panic must have shown on his face, because Aki started laughing at him. Loud, barking laughs.

"I was referring to the Akinari job. But we can discuss your puppy love too if you want."

"Don't insult me," Yohji snapped.

"I'd upgrade it to infatuation if you weren't such a teenager," Aki explained, holding back more laughter. "The broody angsty stuff is just adorable, by the by."

"You can leave anytime you want."

"Thanks, no, this is too much fun." He sat back down on the bed, grin still in place. "Seriously though, how goes investigating the Garnets? Are you recruited yet?"

Yohji let out a noise that was a near growl. "Oh they approached me. I'm going to kill Asuka!"

* * *

Asuka answered the rather insistent knocking on her apartment door wearing a man's work shirt and panties. Her hair was up in a towel and she was holding a toothbrush in one hand.

"Hey boys! What are you doing here?" She asked brightly, stepping aside to let Yohji and Aki into her apartment. She suddenly grew concerned, noticing that Yohji looked particularly upset and failed to notice that Aki was radiating mirth.

"Honey, what's wrong? Did your dad do something?"

"Asuka maybe you should put some clothes on," Aki stage whispered. Yohji hadn't answered yet. He sat down on the couch and stared at a fixed point on the wall with his hands clenched in an attempt to avoid staring at her shapely legs.

"Oh, okay. Um, I'll be right back." She spared another concerned glance for Yohji before heading into her bedroom to cover up. She returned a moment later wearing flannel PJ pants with the work shirt, sans towel.

"What's up?" She asked.

Yohji still didn't say anything. It looked like if he did he might not be able to control himself, so Aki began the story, sounding like he might choke on his own laughter.

"Wonder boy here got recruited into the Garnets today."

"You did? Oh that's really good though!" Asuka exclaimed. "That puts us a day ahead of our best-case schedule. Yohji, why do you look like you want to kill something?" She asked suspiciously.

Aki snickered. "He found out why they wear those head scarves."

"They're all bald!" Yohji yelled, standing up suddenly. "They shave their heads before the initiation ceremony! They gave me some BS about shearing off the vanities of their previous lives before accepting rebirth. Asuka I am _not_ shaving my head! I told them to go fuck themselves."

Asuka gaped at him. Her expression started out as confused but the anger slowly began creeping in. "Are you fucking kidding me? It's just hair you vain little snot, now quit your bitching and do your job!"

"Quit my bitching?"

"Hair grows back Kudoh!"

"Yeah but it takes its sweet time! I just got my dad to let me grow out my hair two months ago and I am not starting over again from bald!" Yohji objected.

"Do you really think your hair is more important than Natsuhiko?"

"What do you care? He's a rent check to you! It's not like we're talking about _your_ hair Asuka, I'm the one who has to do all the work for this. I get to be propositioned by a death cult, bullied by you and lose my hair on top of it all? No way, I'm done! I'm out!"

"Just a rent check? Stop being such a pussy," Asuka said in a low voice. She turned on her heel and headed into the kitchen. Yohji and Aki turned questioning looks to the other before following her. They were just in time to hear the bathroom door slam.

"What's she-" Aki's question was cut off by the buzz of an electric razor. "Oh no she didn't…"

Yohji knocked on the door, which was of course locked. "Asuka wait, you don't have to-"

"Fuck you pretty boy!"

The boys hovered uncertainly outside the door until Asuka slammed it open again some fifteen minutes later, completely bald. She'd used a cartridge razor to even get rid of stubble. She turned to face Yohji, tight lipped.

"It's just hair kid. Yes, I do this for a pay check but you know what, I don't live in a fucking palace here. I'm not taking advantage of people. I do my work and I care about my work so I do it right. Natsuhiko's in danger and that is the only reason I am not finished with you right now. You were just plain disrespectful and mean and over something really, really stupid. Get out of my house."

"I, ah, alright." Yohji left in a hurry with his head down. Aki gaped after him as he left, dramatically stuck to the spot. His gape turned into an expectant glare in Asuka's direction and when she didn't budge he snapped at her.

"You are going to go talk to him, right? Asuka?" Aki's query was punctuated by the front door slamming shut.

Asuka chewed on her lower lip. "You heard what he said to me."

"I did. Asuka sweetie, you asked a seventeen year old boy to shave his head for you. Do you remember being seventeen?"

"Of course I do, it wasn't that long ago. Aki hair grows back. He was being stupid."

"No…he was being a teenager. Has it occurred to you yet that this kid might think his looks are all he has to offer?" Aki asked. He pulled out one of the folding chairs Asuka had placed opposite her orange crate kitchen table.

She snorted. "That's stupid. I mean he is cute, but he's also really intelligent when he wants to be and adorably charming when he's dense."

"Well telling him that instead of chasing him out of your house might go over better! You do know he's got a wicked thing for you so try to be a little nicer."

She frowned. She paced across the kitchen, which took about four paces. "What am I supposed to do about that? Using his hormones was okay at first but now it's starting to make me feel…" She couldn't find the right word for it. Aki decided to supply one.

"Evil?"

"No not evil! Besides, guys play with girls' emotions all the time."

"Asuka, doing it to some dopey kid doesn't make it karma. It just makes you a bitch. Sorry hon, but you had to hear it. If you insist on kicking this puppy you can't expect me to keep quiet about it."

"I know. I…I'll go catch up with him and offer him a ride home," She said around a sigh. "Now where did I leave my keys?"

"Hon? You might want to find a hat too."

* * *

"Hey st-"

"Can you stop it with the stud shit?" Yohji snapped.

"Can't, it's like a tradition now," Asuka said with a self deprecating smile. "C'mon stud, get in. Aki says I have to apologize and I may as well drive you home while I humiliate myself."

"Oh, yeah, Aki says you have to apologize? That's fucking great but I can walk."

Asuka frowned. She hadn't meant to sound mean and her first instinct was to declare Yohji oversensitive, but she clamped that down. Aki was right, she was being a bitch and the way to overcome the night's difficulties was with improved communication.

And a touch more bitchiness, which she displayed by driving up onto the curb and just missing the toe of Yohji's left boot. He jumped back, alarmed.

"Kudoh I know I'm a bitch and so does Aki. He lets me know when I'm being too much of a bitch to function, which is why I sincerely understand that I need to apologize to you. Now get in the car and have a conversation with me." Asuka reached over to open the door but Yohji still only gaped at her, and it wasn't a very happy looking gape. "Please?"

He hesitated, and when he did slide into the passenger seat it looked like it was against his better judgment. "Fine, I guess I could use the ride home."

"Good. Look, I'm sorry I was so harsh back there. Um, you kind of got me fired up by insulting me in the worst possible way-"

"Hey, you paid me back and then some!" Yohji said indignantly.

She sighed in frustration, tapped the steering wheel impatiently and finally pulled back onto the street. Once she was driving again she'd composed her thoughts enough to speak. "Okay, I think I know what happened back there. I've been doing this for awhile and it works great for detective work but not so good for forming friendships or any kind of deeper relationship. We both read people really well and know exactly how to get under their skin."

"Well duh."

"Shut up and think for a second. What that means is that we never waste time with any kind of minor insult because we know what the worst punch is going to be, and sometimes it's more appropriate to call someone a baka than dig at real pain. And the fuck of it is you never mean to do it."

Yohji considered that for a minute. "You know I'd probably save myself some black eyes if I did just call my dad a baka a little more and a sloppy, irresponsible junky wife beater a little less."

"It's a hard habit to break. I've been working on it for years. Aki's the only guy who's ever put up with my shit before," She said with a frown. "I don't mean to push people away, it just…it kind of happens. I mean, the way I've always figured it is I have an extreme personality and people would have to get acquainted with it sooner or later so I might as well show them what they're in for up front…but that strategy kind of…sucks. No one wants to wait for it to get better."

"I'll wait. And I am sorry about the way that went. It was just, y'know, stress mixed with hair loss panic. I like my hair."

"I like it too." She turned to flash him a quick smile before turning to watch the road again. "Very sexy kiddo. I'm gonna miss it when it's gone."

Now it was Yohji's turn to let out a long suffering sigh. "You're really going to make me shave it, aren't you?"

"I'd shave it myself, but I imagine the Garnets have some kind of special ceremony for that."

Yohji scowled. "I guess we can go hat shopping together."

Asuka smiled at him. 'That's my good puppy.'

* * *

_A/N: Hey guys (if any of you are still reading this) I'm back after quite an extended absence. I'm trying to get myself back into the Weiss fandom to finish up at least some of the projects I started back in 2005. We'll see if this happens (not gonna lie, reviews keep me motivated but I can also understand why you wouldn't wanna waste the effort on someone who disappeared for so long). I'm gonna try to have an update ready at least once a month. Sorry for abandoning the fandom for so long, and hello to any newcomers :)_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Hey Hideki, long time no see," Yohji greeted one of the two Garnet recruiters approaching him in the hallway. An uncomfortable look crossed Hideki Fujiwara's face, but only for an instant. His slightly dazed and overly warm cult mask made a quick return.

"Greetings Kudoh-san. This is my associate Rei," The cultie said, introducing a boy Yohji knew for a fact was actually named Kato Tsuzuki. "Rei tells me he approached you about our extracurricular group the other day, but that you two had a misunderstanding over something trivial."

"Yeah, about that. I thought it over and…you were right Rei-san. Attempting to fit in with these mundane worker-drones is far from satisfying, and that's the only reason I was afraid to shave my head. It really is pretty-pretty trivial." He hoped he didn't look too pained, saying that.

Tsuzuki smiled. "I knew he'd see the light of reason if given enough time."

Fujiwara darted forward and enveloped Yohji in a sudden hug. "This is wonderful news Kudoh-san. Now I can reconcile a piece of my shattered past with my new incarnation in my loving family."

Yohji took great pains to keep a smile on his face, but up close and personal the Garnets were much creepier than they'd been in concept. He'd known Hideki for a few years before their fathers had had their falling out, and the kid had never once seemed unhappy, just a little lonely. What the hell was this shattered past he was talking about?

"So when do I join?" Yohji asked.

"Immediately. The clan-father will be very pleased to meet you, but first you must undergo a purification to cut your ties with the ills of the past," Hideki explained.

"Alright…so I'm skipping bio then?" He joked as the recruiters steered him towards an exit.

Most of the student body ignored the three as they headed off to their own classes, although a few students spared disgusted looks for the bulky head scarves the recruiters wore. One particularly horrified glance stayed with Yohji though; he made eye contact with Hana before exiting the building, and the poor girl looked like she wanted to run after him.

Little did he know that she actually did take a few steps in that direction before being pulled into the girls' toilets by that geeky substitute teacher that was always prowling the halls.

"What do you think you're doing?" Asuka snapped, flinging off the hideous glasses that went with her disguise.

"I, um, I well…I was going to be assertive," Hana mumbled.

"What?" Asuka huffed. "I'm not in the mood to joke Hana so spit it out!"

"I was going to be assertive like you told me to!" Hana explained. Her confidence failed her when she saw the annoyed look on Asuka's face, and she addressed the remainder of her speech to her shoes. "I was going to tell Yohji-sempai how I feel, and explain to him that since I'm in love with him I'd rather he not risk his life for something stupid."

Asuka was speechless. Well…speechless for _almost_ a full minute anyway.

"I don't even know where to begin responding to that burst of idiocy! Yohji is not risking his life, I mean my God Hana, do you think I'm completely incompetent or something? We have this under control, and might I add, we are not doing this over something stupid. One of my clients lost his son to these people, and he needs our help to get him back. I picked Yohji as a partner partly because he is so unlikely to be taken in for real by these people, but he's a good enough actor to fake it-not that any of this is in any way your business. Do you understand? You have no place in this conversation Hana, and if you try to interfere in my business life again over some adolescent whim so help me God I will make you regret it!"

Hana's eyes remained on her shoes, but Asuka caught sight of a droplet fall from her face while she was staring down. The girl wiped at her eyes, started to say something, stopped and finally darted from the room.

"Oh shit," Asuka muttered, just knowing that burst of temper was going to come back to haunt her.

* * *

"What the hell did you say?"

"Aki, I really don't have time for this right now." Asuka attempted to close her apartment door, which didn't happen as Aki had gotten a foot in the way. She tried to close it anyway and he yelped.

"Asuka! Breaking my foot is not going to make me less pissed off!" Aki cried.

"Babe, let me," Aki's boy (Well, Asuka assumed it was Aki's boy) said as he shifted position to get his foot in the doorway.

Aki moved aside, but before Asuka could try for another slam Nikolai shoved the door open hard enough to make the hinges creak. He strolled past her and Aki quickly followed into her living room.

"Make yourselves at home," Asuka snapped sarcastically, waving her arm at her messy furniture. She flopped down on the floor cross legged and buried her head in her hands. "If it makes a difference I am really sorry I hurt Hana's feelings."

"It might make a difference if you'd tell me what the hell you said!" Aki snapped. "All I know is she's locked herself in her room and been crying for seven straight hours, oh and it involves the Kudoh kid. Wait, wait, and most importantly-_somehow it's your _fault! You fucking know Hana idolizes you Asuka so please, for the love of all that is decent, tell me you did not abuse that somehow! She's just upset over her crush, right?"

Asuka frowned. "I…well you know how I get when people interfere with my jo-"

"Asuka!"

"Let me finish!" She had to shout Aki down. Nikolai reached over to squeeze his hand comfortingly.

"Look…I was, I was-"

"Wrong?" Nikolai supplied.

"No I was not wrong!" Asuka snapped. "I reacted inappropriately and I'm sorry about that but I was damn well not wrong. Hana was going to blow this job and I had to get the seriousness of it across-"

"By screaming at her and traumatizing her?" Aki snapped.

"I'm sorry Aki…look, you know how much I love you and Hana. I'll talk to her, I'll fix this but…but she's kind of worrying me. This crush she has, it's getting a little ridiculous."

"I know. Yohji's not interested in her. I tried to talk to her about that and she told me you said to go for it," Aki said accusingly.

"That's not really a fair representation of what happened," Asuka bristled. She frowned, reflecting back on that other conversation she'd had with Hana, back when Aki had been tutoring Yohji on computer nerdery. "Although I can kind of see how she got that impression, come to think of it."

"Well what did you say?" Aki asked.

"I just tried to get her to be more confident. The gist of it was, stop stalking him and try talking a little more. I was trying to get her to be less creepy. Argh…Aki, I'm really sorry. Has she really been crying for seven hours?"

"Um…not exactly, no," Aki admitted. "But I think the exaggeration-"

"The lie!"

"Yes, the lie, was good for you. Asuka, you gotta stop being so careless with the bitchiness. Someday you're going to cross the wrong line with the wrong person and they're not going to let you take it back."

Asuka nodded. "Yeah, thanks for the input. So was that all?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Nik and I are heading out for a little while, but we promised to bring Hana back some takeout. You wanna head over to my place later for some Korean barbecue and humble pie?"

"Well, tempting as that is…" Asuka said with an awkward little laugh. Aki scowled at her. "No, really! I'm busy with work. Yohji infiltrated the Garnets today. He's meeting me when he finishes with the initiation."

"Oh pooh. Damn you and your legitimate excuses."

"Baby, this is your P.I. friend then?" Nikolai asked in a quiet rumble of a voice. Aki's face lit up in the gooiest of puppy love expressions when he turned to look at his boyfriend, and Asuka had to work to suppress a giggle at his expense.

"Yeah, this is the lady I was telling you about. Wow, I can't believe we haven't hung out in a group yet. Oh Asuka, you _have_ to come over tonight! I've been wanting you and Nikolai to hang together for ages. Why don't you debrief your mole at my place?"

Asuka quirked an eyebrow. "Your indignant and protective older brother act disappeared really quick, didn't it?"

"Well yeah, I mean if looking out for Hana's gonna mess with _my_ plans…"

Asuka snorted. "I'll think about it. Bye boys. Have a good date."

She went over to the window and watched the two of them leave her apartment building. There was something unsettling in Nikolai's manner, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was quiet, but when he _had_ spoken he _seemed_ pleasant enough…

Maybe she was just angry about how easily he'd forced his way into her apartment. She'd never enjoyed being around pushy guys, and Nikolai's size made him particularly intimidating. Oh well. Aki was taken with him, that's all that mattered.

She went over to her desk to do some reading while she waited for Yohji's call.

* * *

"Well, I've seen uglier bald guys," Aki said carefully.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Asuka yelled. "Are you looking at the same kid I am?"

She whipped her hat off her head and pointed to her own smooth scalp. "_This_ is what someone with a recently shaved head is supposed to look like! _That-_" She pointed to Yohji, "is downright freakish!"

He did somehow manage to rock a shaved head almost as well as he had shoulder length honey locks. The hair had detracted attention from what were now noticeably shaped cheekbones and overall a really pleasing bone structure. Even his delicately arched brows looked better, which of course drew attention to his pretty green eyes.

Asuka scowled. "It isn't fair. I look like a prisoner of war, and he looks like one of those heroine chic Calvin Klein models."

Nikolai let out a growl of a laugh, which reminded Asuka he was in the room. The lovers were sitting on the floor in front of Aki's bed, Aki curled up with his back against Nikolai's chest. The large foreigner seemed more like furniture than a person.

"Did you see Natsuhiko while you were at headquarters?" Aki asked.

"Nope. They did leave me alone in an administrative room for a few minutes while they prepared for my cleansing though, so I brought back some goodies." Yohji reached into his backpack and pulled out a data disc. Aki let out an excited squeak, and Asuka threw her arms around his neck.

"I changed my mind entirely, you freakishly beautiful bastard!" She kissed his cheek, and he subsequently turned bright red.

"Why thank you Asuka-sensei."

Aki popped the disc into his laptop to get cracking. "Asuka, give him another kiss. The first doc is a play-by-play instruction manual for brainwashing. They're calling it 'Cultivating the Confused'. Ooo, spreadsheets. I smell finances." Aki's fingers flew over the keyboard as he happily examined the contents of the disc. Nikolai leaned over his shoulder to read, making the occasional comment about how clever his boyfriend was.

"There really isn't that much more to tell." Yohji turned to address Asuka, since Aki's attention was riveted to the spreadsheets and Nikolai only seemed to have eyes and ears for his boyfriend. "The building's new, structurally sound but not ostentatious and worryingly secure. They've got alarms, security codes to open doors, cameras-"

"No one saw you poking at the computers, did they?" Asuka interrupted, hoping what had seemed like good luck hadn't blown things for them.

"I looked first!" Yohji snapped indignantly. "They have security gear up the wazoo but the cameras are really poorly placed. Tons of blindspots. And as far as I could tell, all the doors used the same security code, 12345. The computer was actually locked, but the password was password, so..."

"So paranoid but ridiculously stupid?" Asuka supplied. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "What else?"

"They tried to keep me from seeing it, but I caught a glimpse of a dormitory. I don't think they like the new recruits to realize the plans eventually include living there. I'm already qualified for a scholarship to study at their private school and have been invited to a weekend retreat though."

"Nifty. Sign up for both."

"Already did. Oh, and Dad likes the shaved head better than my sissy hair," Yohji finished.

Asuka rubbed her head absentmindedly. "I can't wait for my hair to grow back. Wearing that wig today while I staked out your school was uncomfortable as all hell."

"Mm, I'm eager to see how beautiful you'll look with short hair. I think it'll suit you better than the long ponytail," Yohji said, and had to mask his surprise when Asuka blushed. He wisely refrained from calling attention to it, and the two detectives amiably finished off their food before reviewing the financial records of the Garnets over Aki's shoulder and then going their separate ways.

* * *

'Nikolai' spared a longing glance at the two detectives leaving the Murakami household, both cheerful and flushed from a night of business mixed with pleasure. He was the only young person present not sincerely enjoying himself, but he had to pretend he enjoyed cuddling up to an obnoxious, flamboyant, teal-haired twit.

_You're almost done_, Silvia reminded him. He'd probably have broken cover at least a dozen times if it wasn't for her steady telepathic reassurances. Sometimes he wondered if his teammate was an empathy, in addition to a skilled telekinetic and a mildly talented telepath.

_Armlisch has been telling me when to calm you down_, She explained, mental voice sounding amused. Right, or their precognitive leader was monitoring their progress through his visions.

He said an irritatingly long and physical goodbye to the dweeby hacker before finally making his own exit from the damn house. Scowling under his breath, 'Nikolai', or rather Sergei Paranahov, walked a few streets away, where he found his teammate standing in front of their convertible practicing with a…

"A katana? Really Silvia?" Sergei laughed.

Sword work really wasn't that practical in a profession rife with skilled marksmen and psychics, so Silvia's training with blades was minimal at best, but she still managed to look beautiful as she all but danced with the graceful weapon. With reluctance, she sheathed her new toy and threw a smile at Sergei. "When in Rome, right?"

"I suppose. You're not planning on actually making a kill with that thing, are you?" Sergei asked, as he climbed into the passenger side. Silvia slid into the driver's side and steered into traffic.

"No, it's just something to play with. So how did it go? Did you get any more information out of the target?"

"Not much, but I did meet the detectives-"

"There's more than one?" Silvia asked, as annoyed as Sergei was about the situation from the looks of it.

"Yep. The latest gig needed a mole, so Murase hired a high school kid."

"Great. That's potentially two more kills, plus cleanup," Silvia sighed.

Sergei shrugged it off, but then he didn't really mind bloodbaths. Silvia glared at him. "We had specific orders to contain this mess with minimal casualties. Rosenkreuz doesn't want a media frenzy."

"Yeah, yeah. Still can't believe that flaky doofus hacked Rosenkreuz files."

"I know. It's almost a shame we have to kill him. He's obviously clever. He'd be of such use to the Organizations…" Silvia said with a dreamy sigh.

Sergei laughed. "Maybe you should have transferred out to Esset, where they take such stupid risks. Rosenkreuz proper doesn't want anyone who hasn't gone through the breakdown, which you damn well know."

"Plus you want to kill this kid."

"Oh, do I want to kill this kid," Sergei agreed. He was actually straight, but his superiors never bothered to care about such things when they assigned targets and undercover work. Sergei had had to seduce plenty of men in his years as a Rosenkreuz assassin, and he personally killed every man he'd been forced to have sex with in as satisfyingly messy a way as possible. And considering the psychic wave he could produce with his telekinesis…

Silvia let him indulge in fantasies of itty bitty pieces of Aki Murakami coating the ceiling and walls for another few minutes before she pressed him for more information. "So any other updates? Have you figured out if the target has told anyone else about Rosenkreuz?"

"Huh? Nah, the kid's playing this one really close to the chest. He hasn't even breathed a word to his beloved 'Nikolai' and the damn moron tells me everything short of the duration of his bowel movements."

Silvia nodded. "So we'll need a telepath to tease the information out of him."

"Can you do it?" Sergei asked.

She laughed. "Sergei, I'm skilled enough to be a glorified comm system, but delicate work like rooting around in someone's head and sifting through their memories is beyond my very capable capabilities."

"Alright sweetheart, so what are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting we bring someone else in. I happen to know an Esset team that's working out of Japan right now with just the skill set we need."

Sergei nodded. "Sounds good. Armlisch can put in a call to headquarters tonight. I really don't see us having a problem getting Esset to loan us some operatives."

"Mm, neither do I." Silvia smiled. It would be nice to work with the Schwarz again.

* * *

'That kid is so far in the closet he's finding Christmas presents,' Aki thought sadly to himself. He just couldn't figure out why exactly the Kudoh kid was so insistent that he was straight. Sure, Japanese society at large dictated one should keep one's sexual deviances to oneself, but he was damn sure his house was a safe environment for individual expression, and despite all the hints he'd been dropping Yohji Kudoh was clinging fervently to the delusion that he was heterosexual.

Only Hana-chan had been convinced by it. Asuka had asked Aki weeks ago, back when she'd first introduced the teen to him, if he thought Yohji was gay. He'd responded with a hells fucking yes and she'd looked a little worried. "You sure Aki? Because he's been flirting with me like crazy…"

"Asuka I know gay when I see it and that kid couldn't get gayer if he started farting rainbows. He's just in denial and you're safe to flirt with because you're not likely to flirt back. You know, since you're older, independent and a total cuntbag bitch to him."

"Thanks Aki," She'd snapped sarcastically, although she'd looked relieved.

The topic had been revisited again more recently, with an accompanying recent shift in Asuka's attitude.

"You're interested in him, aren't you?" Aki realized.

"I am not!" Asuka shrieked, as though nothing could be more ridiculous and repulsive to her at the same time. But Aki knew his old friend well and the telltale reddening of her cheeks gave her away.

"Oh you so are, so stop lying. Can't say I blame you. He's awfully cute and he's been charming you for weeks now. If you weren't starting to crack I'd think you were an even bigger cuntbag than I thought before or, you know, a pod person."

"Aki, I have no reason in the world to get involved with a man that's that much younger than me, especially when he's being fawned over by your little sister. I don't need to betray Hana-chan, thank you very much."

"She'd get over it. And since when have you been thinking of Yohji as a man? I thought he was that stupid-ass misogynist _kid_ you needed for your job," Aki teased. If anyone was going to master a killing look it was Asuka, and Aki would be her first victim. "So how's the misogynism going anyway? Didja break him of that?"

She let out a long sigh. "Well…it stopped bothering me. He's not really sexist, he just likes to protect women…and with what happened to his mother I can't say I blame him," She added softly. Aki wanted to ask, it was in his curious nature, but he also noticed that now wasn't the time. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing Aki…I can't fall for this kid."

"Why not?" Aki asked.

"Because I am 90% sure he's gay, for one thing. And say whatever you want but it flat out sucks when you find out your boyfriend's dating a guy. That just…there is no way to feel attractive after that news."

Aki suddenly felt defensive. "We were broken up when I started seeing Seguchi."

"I know, I know. But it still stung."

"Besides, I still like women. I just like men too. Maybe Yohji's bisexual," He suggested.

"Could you talk to him?" Asuka asked suddenly. "I'd feel a lot better about this whole thing if I didn't…please Aki?"

He wanted to say no. There was no fucking way in hell he wanted to have a talk with Yohji Kudoh about his sexual preference, especially if the only chance of Asuka talking to the kid about such matters hinged on it. Despite his teasing about going for it, he saw a big cloud of drama surrounding the two detectives and thought the more platonic their relationship the better.

But she looked so damn hopeful and it was the worst kind of hope, the kind tinged with despair.

"Sure Sweetie, I'll talk to your boy. You know, since you're such a chicken shit."

"Thanks Aki," She said with a rare grateful smile. Damn that smile, it had always gotten him into trouble.

* * *

Two nights after his conversation with Asuka, Aki dutifully drove halfway across town to the Kudoh residence, a boring looking little house on a boring looking little street. He knocked on the front door and was greeted by Yohji's drug addicted father, Yoshikazu. Asuka had warned him about the surly asshole once before and he knew full well the man was the only suspect in his wife's disappearance, but that there hadn't been enough evidence to pursue the case. He knew to be careful.

"Hey Kudoh-san, my name's Aki. I'm friends with Yohji. Is he around?" He asked, hoping his tone sounded respectful. Aki had had an unconventional upbringing by his eccentric and wealthy jet-setting parents. He inadvertently offended more traditional adults constantly.

Kudoh-san squinted at Aki like he couldn't quite make out his details. His eyes lingered on Aki's teal tinted hair for an uncomfortable amount of time before moving back down to his eager looking face. "Do I know you?" He demanded.

"We've met once before, but you were in a bit of a rush. If Yohji's not here could you just tell him I stopped by and to give me a call?"

"He's here alright. Just wondering what the hell a punk like you wants with my son," He said gruffly.

'Well this could be going better,' Aki thought unhappily. His smile had grown fixed as he tried to think of something to say. 'Maybe I should have called first'. Nope, not helpful in the least.

"Yer not one of them faggots are you?" Kudoh-san asked, squinting again.

"Pardon?" Aki stalled.

"Yer hair's all…and yer clothes and…yer a faggot, aren't you?"

"Um…no sir, actually no." Which wasn't lying, not really. He did sleep with women too so gay wasn't entirely correct… "Sir, is Yohji here?" He tried again. "I'm supposed to be helping him with a project for school."

"You're in high school?" Kudoh-san didn't look like he believed him.

"No, I'm in college and I tutor at the high school," Aki lied.

Kudoh-san held his ground. "I didn't know Yohji had a tutor. That fucking little shit, he's not gonna get away with lying to me. YOHJI!" He turned around suddenly and stormed upstairs.

"Fuck-ing Christ!" Aki hissed, following after. Couldn't even ask if the kid was home without setting off the man's temper, how pathetic was that?

He needed to talk to Asuka about getting Yohji out of that house. If it wouldn't result in Hana's little heart exploding he'd ask his parents if Yohji could move in with them and give up his office. He knew they'd let him, and they wouldn't ask questions either. His parents ruled, why couldn't Yohji's Dad be a little more cool?

Kudoh-san hammered on Yohji's locked bedroom door. "Get out here, we need to talk!"

"Dad go away! I said I'm not talking until you sober up!" Yohji's response was muffled through the door.

"Dammit get out here! Some faggot downstairs is looking for you and says he's here to tutor you for school! Are you failing? Well? Are you?" He screamed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, now go away!"

"DAMMIT!" Kudoh-san started kicking the door hard enough that the wood creaked and cracked. Aki watched, horrified, and wondered if he should call the police.

"OPEN! THE! FUCKING! DOOR!" Kudoh-san screamed, spit flying from his mouth.

"Why don't you do some more coke and pass out already?" Yohji suggested. How he remained so calm was beyond Aki. The only thing keeping his pissed off father away from him was probably about to be kicked in.

As if his thoughts had manifested, the abused door finally lost its battle with Yoshikazu's foot and he stormed into the room. Aki silently following as though providing a witness would keep his young friend safe.

Yohji was lying on his bed flipping through one of Asuka's binders. He didn't even look up until his father threw the binder across the room and yanked Yohji's head back.

"Ow! Dad, what the fuck?"

"Don't talk to me like that! It's bad enough you're making yourself all, all fruity like that and don't you fucking think the guys at work haven't been making their jokes about my fucking faggot of a son! Now there are guys showing up on my door in broad fucking daylight looking for you! What are you trying to do to me Yohji?" With each exclamation he shook Yohji's head violently. Yohji grabbed his father's arm with both hands but he couldn't pry him off.

"You're going to give him brain damage, will you stop it?" Aki screeched, shocked at the display of violence and even more shocked that Kudoh-san was far gone enough to let his temper loose in front of a stranger.

He promptly dropped his son and Yohji flopped back onto his bed and clutched his skull. Yoshikazu stared at Aki as though he'd never seen anything like him before.

"Get out of my house or I'll call the cops," He said in a low voice.

"I feel like I should be the one making that threat," Aki returned with a calm he didn't really feel.

"Aki don't, you're not helping." Yohji's voice shook ever so slightly as he spoke. He got off his bed and faced his dad, an appeasing smile on his face. "Dad I'm sorry I never introduced you to Aki…he's just a friend that I met through another friend and he's helping me out with school. I'm not failing but I could be doing better and you always tell me to work hard, right?"

Yoshikazu looked back and forth disbelievingly between the two of them. They waited in a tense silence to see if he'd buy their story, which was only a slight lie. Aki did tutor Yohji, but it had nothing to do with school.

Finally Kudoh-san stalked over to Aki and glowered at him, clearly trying to intimidate him and in all honesty he was doing a pretty damn good job. He was quite a bit stockier than his son and Aki and Yohji were skinny; it was obvious who would win in a fight.

"Are you screwing my son?" Yohji's dad asked.

Aki's eyes widened. Well he'd thought about it a couple times but actually he had a boyfriend of his own that was even his own age. Of course that answer wouldn't come across any better than a 'Yes sir, every available opportunity'.

"Of course not!" He tried to sound offended at the suggestion.

Yohji stood just behind his father, head in his shaking hands.

"Don't you lie to me, now tell me the truth. Are you sticking it to my son?"

"Sir, I am not sleeping with your son. I am tutoring him so he can graduate high school with honors," Aki said firmly. Yoshikazu nodded.

"Fine. Yohji, if you need a tutor then I'll find you one that isn't a fruit. I'm going out and this house had better be empty when I get back." The angry addict stalked downstairs and the house shook from the force of him slamming the front door.

"What the hell was that?" Aki demanded, when he was sure there was no chance of the man coming back upstairs.

Yohji was leaning over his broken bedroom door with a scowl on his face. "That's my dad between fixes. Do you think this door is salvageable?"

"No. Yohji are you okay? And I swear on anything and everything holy I only asked to talk to you and when he wouldn't let me in I made up that shit about the tutoring," Aki explained, feeling terribly guilty over the whole thing.

"He freaked out on Asuka too. It's okay, when he's like that there's no right answer." Giving up on the door, Yohji padded across the room to a little mirror he'd hung up on the wall and started poking delicately at the finger shaped bruises on his tender skull. A thick growth of stubble had grown back on his head, but it didn't quite hide the angry red marks. "Damn that one hurt…If I still had hair he'd probably have scalped me."

"I'm sorry, Yohji I did not know he was going to-"

"Aki it's okay, I'm not mad. So why are you here?" He asked.

"I…" Shit, he'd forgotten his cover story. It wouldn't do at all to say 'Asuka wanted me to probe you about your sexual preferences'. "I just wanted to hang out, actually. My social circle's a little small at the moment and you're one of the better colleagues Asuka's introduced me to. Wanna head out, take in a movie or something?"

Yohji smiled gratefully at him. "You mean a distraction? That'd be great. But when Asuka finds out I haven't read all the stuff she left me it's up to you to explain it to her, okay?"

"Sounds like a deal."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Aki spent the better part of two hours with Yohji looking for the slightest opportunity to switch the conversation to sexual orientation, but no luck. The kid was unusually guarded, a side effect of the episode with his father, no doubt. Clearly he didn't want to talk or think about his living situation, and thus extinguished every conversation that started to take a personal turn.

They were wandering around aimlessly downtown. Aki had bought some manga and a few toys for his computers while they were out. The silence between them was uncomfortable, even more so because when it lasted too long the depressed teenager inevitably spiraled into a state of silent angst. He was trying his damndest to cheer the kid up, but Yohji was determined to sulk.

"You ever read one of these before?" Aki asked, holding out the manga he'd bought.

Yohji glanced at it. "Manga? Eh, I've read a couple."

"Well I meant this kind specifically. YAOI?" Aki asked.

Yohji frowned at him. "The ones where boys fuck each other? I barely understand why those exist. From what I understand the market's mostly young girls, isn't it?"

"And the occasional pervy twenty something hacker who lives with his parents," Aki said, flashing a charming smile. "I tried to get Asuka to read one but it wasn't her thing either. I don't know why, it's not like they're that good. But you know, sometimes you're in the mood for shit and these light love stories with fun naughty parts are the good kind of shit for me."

"You think I'm gay, don't you," Yohji accused, no question in his voice.

Aki paused, caught between two different reactions because he honestly wasn't sure how to respond.

"It's okay if you do, you're not the only person I've met who does. I mean obviously there's my dad. He's been convinced I was queer since I was in middle school at least."

"Well Yohji, it doesn't matter what I think, or what your shit of a father thinks either. Do you think you're gay?" Aki asked.

"I hope not," Yohji muttered.

"Why not?"

"Well…I don't really know, I just know I don't want to be," He said uncomfortably. He turned away from Aki, glancing desperately at store windows so he could come up with something else to say. Aki didn't plan on letting him get away that easily.

"Honey, denial only works for so long. If you think you are, you should probably explore a little bit and find out, and then work on accepting yourself. Seriously, just ignoring something as integral to yourself as your sexuality is asking for all kinds of trouble."

"I can explore later. For now I'd rather just survive long enough to move out," Yohji snapped.

There was no arguing with that. "Fair enough Yoj, but when you're ready you can talk to me. You know, been there done that. Maybe I can help."

Yohji didn't say anything more, but his sulk had given away to the teensiest of smiles. Aki followed him into a shop, frustrated that he hadn't gotten a clear yes or no to his question, but pleased with his responses. He did intend to be there for the kid if he needed the guidance later on.

The place was a little convenience store. Yohji bought a couple packs of cigarettes and a lighter. Aki watched, impressed at Yohji's calm demeanor while doing something illegal. Maybe it was the casualness of his actions or the fact that his half foreign heritage made it harder for most people to gauge the kid's age, but he wasn't carded. He lit a cigarette and offered one to Aki as they left.

"No thanks, I don't smoke. Ash trays around electronics is an unhappy thought. At least for a slob like me," Aki explained.

"Okay then."

"Damn I could have used a friend like you when I was in high school. Do you ever get carded?" Aki asked.

"Once in a blue moon. Most people think I'm older than I am," Yohji explained.

"That's cool. Oh wait, we have to go in here."

"Why?" Yohji asked.

"Because that's my boyfriend over there!" Aki had spotted Nikolai through the store's large windows, but Nikolai hadn't noticed him.

"Who's the kid he's with?" Yohji asked.

Aki's love struck eyes moved from his honey to a teenage foreigner, probably about Yohji's actual (as opposed to perceived) age, that was standing next to him with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his pretty face. Nikolai was laughing at him, and to Aki's surprise and horror, reached over to touch him in an overly friendly fashion. He'd only thrown his arm around him, and the kid didn't exactly look thrilled about it, but Aki's face still crumpled.

He felt his heart sink. Yohji put a hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't look like the kid's into him," He said comfortingly.

'It wasn't an overtly sexual touch or anything', Aki thought to himself, just not the kind of thing one did to a stranger.

"Come on, let's go in anyway." Aki decided. He edged around a display of sunglasses and hid in one of the aisles. Nikolai never saw him or Yohji enter the store, and they were perched pretty well to hear and watch what was going on.

"Will you fucking cut it out?" The teen snapped. "You're such an ass."

"Then stop making yourself such a target, little Schwarz. Now is anyone on your team actually competent? Your leader's vi-" Nikolai was cut off by a very angry and bossy glare from his companion. Understanding dawned on his face, and he started looking around the store. The kid rolled his eyes and then looked right at the aisle Yohji and Aki were hiding in.

There was no way he could have seen them, but for whatever reason he walked directly to them, and then at the last possible second made a pretense of interest in a magazine that was in the rack. Nikolai followed him over there and smiled widely when he recognized Aki.

"Hey baby, what are you doing hiding from me?"

"Me? Hiding?" Aki asked nervously, with an unconvincing little laugh.

Yohji seemed to think honesty was a better policy, but then again this entire situation stank to him. "We were passing by and thought we saw you flirting it up. Either way you looked busy enough that we didn't run right over to say hi." Yohji tilted his head towards the surly looking kid, who was reading the magazine. He looked up momentarily and stared at Yohji with dislike, ever so briefly before returning to the magazine.

Huh. Despite the stick up his ass, Yohji had to admit the kid was nice looking. Even framed in a scowl the kid's dark blue eyes were stunning, and not just for the rarity of that particular color in the city.

Nikolai laughed, having gotten the gist of Yohji's completely transparent accusation. "It looked like I was flirting? With Klaus? Don't be ridiculous, I mean yes I was teasing him, but…Aki why would I flirt with anyone else when I have you?" He asked.

"I know, I didn't really…" He trailed off, face going bright red with embarrassment. Nikolai shrugged it off easyily enough and wrapped one arm around his boyfriend's skinny shoulders. He kissed the side of his face.

"I'm glad I bumped into you, I was starting to miss you," He murmured.

"Yeah? We just saw each other last night," Aki said around a ridiculously large and stupid happy smile.

"Still, that was last night."

It looked like there was every danger they were going to start making out in the store, so Yohji stage coughed loudly to get their attention. At least it worked, which was more than could be said for his old friends when they were with their girlfriends.

"Have you and your friend eaten yet? Klaus and I were about to go get some noodles, but we could get something else if you wanted," Nikolai offered.

"Noodles sound fine," Aki said dazedly. Yohji snorted. Later on he would have to rip into him well and good for being such a dazed love sick idiot, but in front of his actual boyfriend would be bad timing. "Oh, um this is Yohji. He works with my friend Asuka. Oh wait, duh, you guys met already, I forgot."

"Right, right. He works with the ex." Nikolai's face suddenly set in an ever so subtle display of jealousy. Yohji could sympathize; Aki and Asuka's closeness after having broken up bothered him too. "Klaus is my baby cousin. I've been showing him around. First time in Tokyo but not his first time in Japan," Nikolai explained.

Something about that didn't sound right to Yohji, but it took him until they got to the noodle house before he placed it. Sometime around his fourth casual examination of Nikolai and Klaus' features for any kind of family resemblance (of which there was absolutely none) he realized that their names were definitely not of the same nationality. Nikolai sounded Russian or something, and he was pretty sure Klaus Schwarz was German (well, he was assuming Schwarz was the last name because of the teasing remark they'd overheard in the conveni). They didn't look alike at all, frankly he found Nikolai pretty fugly and wondered about Aki's taste because of it, whereas the 'cousin' was gorgeous. Skinny and somewhat malnourished looking in ratty clothes, but gorgeous nonetheless. And their accents certainly didn't match.

He'd caught Klaus looking at him a couple of times, but they didn't make eye contact again. Every time Yohji spotted him at it, he'd glance away just as quickly.

The kid seemed to be in a world of his own throughout dinner. Even his disdainful scowl and mocking smirk, apparently his only two facial expressions, went slack after awhile as he zoned out.

"You okay there Klaus?" Yohji asked. Aki and Nikolai were so into their own conversation they didn't even notice.

"Hm? What? Oh yeah, fine," He answered curtly.

Yohji grinned at him. "Must be some fantasy world you're escaping to. Can't say I blame you though, I wouldn't mind getting away from those two for a little while." He motioned to the love birds, who had lost their cuteness awhile ago and were now just mushy and annoying. Klaus laughed, a harsh sound that had its own weird charm to it.

"That I can agree with," He said.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Yohji found himself offering while the thought was half-formed. He smiled, amused at himself. Hadn't he spent part of the afternoon telling Aki he wasn't gay and now here he was, blatantly crushing on the mysterious stranger.

Oh what the hell. Aki had told him to experiment and it's not like Klaus was staying in Japan anyway.

"Fuck yes I'll take a walk. Hey Nik, I'll find you later okay?" Klaus said as he stood to leave.

"Make sure you do, I've no intention of having to report you missing to the family." The response was almost a threat. Aki barely seemed to notice them leave.

"I don't know what Nikolai did to Aki but man, he was on a cloud in there," Yohji observed. He lit a cigarette and then reflexively offered one to his companion.

"No thanks, I like breathing," Klaus snapped.

"Suit yourself." Yohji shrugged. "Any reason for the attitude?"

"I've been spending all day being led around the city by that patronizing ass we just left behind. Now tell me you wouldn't be a ray of fucking sunshine?"

Yohji laughed, and was just able to catch a proud looking smile on Klaus' face at his reaction to the joke. "There's a park near here that's not a bad hang out spot. We could chill there until Aki and Nikolai are feeling a little less obnoxious," He offered.

"Sounds good to me," Klaus agreed. He reached into his pocket and extracted a box of blueberry pocky, the candy stick substituting a cigarette dangling from his lips as they walked.

"So are you weirded out at all that your cousin's dating a guy?" Yohji asked. He wasn't sure exactly what his motivations were in asking. Partly to see what Klaus' reaction to homosexuality was, but mostly, he had to admit, to get him to talk about his 'cousin' since that still didn't fit. Maybe he'd keep being a detective after this job of Asuka's was over with. Apparently he liked working through mysteries.

Klaus shrugged. He sat down on a bench and stared straight up at the sky. There were some nasty looking clouds collected above them and Yohji thought idly that they might have been better served to stay in the noodle house, or at least to have wandered somewhere with a roof.

"Eh, it's his business. Frankly I think Aki could do better."

"I was kinda thinking that too," Yohji said with a laugh. "Aki told me his boyfriend was a stud…I think he's a little blinded by love."

"Very. Nikolai's an ugly son of a bitch," Klaus agreed.

Yohji frowned. "I don't think he's ugly, exactly, just not terribly attractive. Nothing like you, actually. I wouldn't have thought you were related."

Klaus smirked, this one somewhat amused. "Are you trying to flirt with me Yohji?"  
"Mebbe. I'm better at charming girls though so you'll have to cut me some slack." Yohji sat down next to him on the bench, leaving a good amount of space between them in case Klaus was uncomfortable. His expressions were hard to read, either that distant smirk or disdainful scowl, so he didn't know what kind of effect he was having.

He'd liked hearing the pretty foreigner say his name though. It was the first time Klaus had addressed him directly.

"I don't see why charming boys would be much different," Klaus observed.

"Oh, I don't think you'd like it if I flirted with you the way I flirt with girls," Yohji said, thinking of the way Asuka reacted to it. Klaus seemed to have just as much attitude.

Klaus laughed and shook his head, amused. He had long hair, about the length Yohji had been aspiring to before having to shave his head, and had dyed it bright red, an unnaturally vibrant shade of crimson. His bangs had fallen into his face with the motion and without thinking Yohji moved to push them out of his eyes.

There was a quick moment where they both froze, staring at each other. Klaus' lips were parted ever so slightly as he looked into Yohji's eyes, startled by his sudden closeness. Yohji kept his hand on the side of his face where he'd brushed back his bangs; all he could think about were how beautiful the other teen's eyes were.

Just as suddenly they unfroze and Yohji scooted back, returning Klaus' personal space. "Sorry, that was rude," He said, hoping he hadn't blushed.

"You can kiss me if you want to," Klaus said. "I wouldn't mind." It sounded like it cost him something to say that, another detail for Yohji to wonder about…later. At the moment there was a sexy red head who had just asked to be kissed and now seemed as good a time as any to do some exploring.

He didn't want to be gay, not at all. Some part of him wanted to someday have a wife and kids and try out the sort of upbringing his mom had wanted for him but that his father had never allowed. He wanted to set himself up with a happy family, to get the experience that he'd come so close to having before his mother disappeared. For what he assumed were obvious reasons, that little dream could never happen if he fell for some guy.

Of course...he didn't have to get around to baby making any time soon. The house and kids weren't part of the plan until he was at least thirty, anyway.

Despite the fact that possibly the best opportunity to safely and secretly test his heterosexuality had presented itself, Yohji still hesitated. The beautiful stranger let out a disappointed sigh, and started nervously playing with his wild crimson hair. It was the disappointed agitation that broke through Yohji's lingering doubts; if he wanted so badly to be kissed then Yohji could certainly oblige.

Hesitantly, as though he were unsure what male lips might do, Yohji closed the space between them and gently kissed Klaus. It didn't feel terribly different from kissing Kyoko or Megumi; the girls' mouths were a bit fuller and smaller, pursed almost eternally into little pouts they must have believed to be seductive. Klaus' lips were soft and warm though, and breathing through his nose Yohji caught a spicy scent he much preferred to Megumi's noxious perfume or Kyoko's fruity body spray.

Initially Klaus tensed when their lips met, but only initially. The kiss was slow and experimental, but very nice. Yohji was just coaxing the other teen's mouth open when Klaus jerked back, startled. Yohji tried and failed to hide the hurt on his face.

Klaus wiped at his cheek. "I just got hit with a big fat rain drop. I'm thinking we should find shelter," He said. Yohji nodded, relieved Klaus' discomfort hadn't come from bad kissing.

"We can head back to the noodle place and see if Aki and his boy are still there. Aki's car is nearby," Yohji suggested.

"Aki's boy?" Klaus quirked an eyebrow and grinned at Yohji as they rose from the bench and set off in the direction of the street.

"Yeah…that's how Aki and our friend Asuka talk about him. Guess I picked up the expression." His father would probably kill him if he picked up any more of their mannerisms. He'd have to watch that.

The rain increased in intensity. Soon Yohji was soaked, but at least he was wearing relatively decent clothing for the downpour and the wind; his leather coat made him much cushier than he might otherwise have been.

Klaus wasn't so lucky. His grey t-shirt was sweat thin and almost transparent from the rainwater within seconds of the build up. He hugged his arms and tried to hide his chattering teeth, but Yohji wasn't an idiot and could tell the kid was freezing. He only wondered why he would pretend not to be.

"Come on." Yohji changed direction and steered his companion to a little gazebo that normally provided shelter for the blue tarps. He wondered at their absence, but only briefly before slipping off his coat and draping it over Klaus' trembling shoulders.

He kept one hand on Klaus' arm and with the other pushed his sopping bangs out of his face. The kid kept his head down and his lips were thin. "You should take your coat back, I'm fine," He muttered, embarrassed for some reason Yohji couldn't fathom. He did notice though, that the stranger looked even more stunning soaking wet and that he'd like to pick up where the rain had interrupted them.

"I can live without my coat until you warm up. Your skin feels like ice. Kinda looks like it too," Yohji added as an afterthought. He brushed the pad of his thumb over Klaus' pale cheekbone. His hair had turned blood red from the wetness, contrasting sharply with his fair skin. He didn't look washed out though, far from it.

"Well if you insist on being stupid." Klaus looked up finally, a small smile on his lips that slowly faded when he made eye contact with Yohji.

'They're so blue', Yohji thought dazedly. 'I've never seen anything like it.' His French mother's sister, Veronique, had blue eyes, but they were pale and plain like an old woman's cotton skirt. Klaus' eyes were _BLUE_, like the deepest part of the ocean.

This time Klaus kissed him, without a shred of awkwardness or hesitation from either of them. He could taste rainwater on Klaus' lips and beyond that Yohji tasted Klaus, sweet and utterly addictive. He could easily see being hopelessly enamored of the pure sensations of the other teen; touch and smell were up there with taste and there was some unnamed quality in the base of his stomach, a sense of right. Whatever else he'd fucked up lately didn't sting as much. For this one moment he was where he was supposed to be and doing exactly what he was supposed to do.

Klaus broke the kiss with a fluttery little gasp, panting lightly, but Yohji was too immersed in sensation to stop even though he could probably have used a few deep breaths. At any rate, Klaus didn't stop him when he kissed raindrops off the boy's slender neck. When he let out a very sexy little groan Yohji stayed at the one spot and kissed it red. This was going to be fun.

"Klaus! What the hell are you doing?"

The kid jumped at the sound of his cousin's voice and tried to pull away, but Yohji had his arms wrapped very securely around him and his response time was much slower. He looked up with an inarticulate "Hmwha?" to see Nikolai and Aki running towards them.

Nikolai's expression was bemused with an undercurrent of pissed off, while Aki was much more reassuring. "Alright! You go Yohji!" He beamed.

Klaus looked embarrassed for a moment, but only that as he quickly schooled his expression back to petulance. Yohji reluctantly let go of him.

"Did you kids have fun?" Aki asked patronizingly.

"No, it was boring being seduced by a gorgeous blond Eurasian," Klaus snapped sarcastically. Yohji smiled, giddy at the compliment, and Klaus looked at him pointedly. "Well you are. I mean, damn Yohji, I didn't know they made them like you!"

Nikolai had the audacity to make a gagging noise, which Yohji thought was pretty rich considering the couple cuddles he and Klaus had been subjected to before they left.

"Come on, let's head back to the car," Nikolai grunted.

"Sweetie, we could wait here for the rain to end," Aki suggested. It was still cascading down more like a waterfall than like actual rain, and the gazebo was doing a good job protecting them from it.

"Me and Klaus have to get back to the family, we shoulda been back at least an hour ago," Nikolai said.

Klaus frowned and cast his eyes downward again. He pulled Yohji's coat more tightly around him. "We could just blow them off," He muttered. For a second it looked like Nikolai wanted to hit him, and Yohji edged over so that he stood in between the 'cousins'. For all the good that would do, actually. Nikolai was at least as tall as Yohji and much stockier; he could probably smack him around even easier than his father did. Still, he didn't like the idea of someone threatening Klaus.

Apparently with some effort on his part, Nikolai slipped back into a friendly nature, but to everyone except Aki it looked forced.

"You're such a brat! We're on a time crunch and you know that. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to whore yourself out to the first stranger you meet elsewhere."

"Hey!" Yohji and Klaus snapped indignantly. The tone had been teasing but the content much too severe for use in front of a relative stranger.

"Wow Nik, that was a little harsh. Don't you think so?" Aki asked with a nervous little laugh.

Nikolai shrugged. "If you knew Klaus better you wouldn't think so." He set off through the rain for the car. Aki shrugged and followed, the teens taking up the rear. Yohji wondered what the hell that had been about.

They all bolted into Aki's car, Aki driving, Nikolai got shotgun, leaving Yohji and Klaus in the back. Which wasn't really a problem, but there were heating vents in the shotgun seat and considering Klaus was shaking again, Yohji thought it might have been a nice familial gesture if Nikolai had let him take the seat.

Aki flipped the heat to its highest setting. "I hope that gets back to you guys. There used to be working vents in the back, but for some reason Hana thought it would be just a wonderful idea to gum them up with modeling clay."

"What did you do to Hana-chan?" Yohji asked.

"Nothing! What makes you think I had to do something for that vindictive wench to attack me?" He asked, exuding a very poor degree of fake innocence.

"You're siblings. What did you do?" Yohji asked again.

"I helped her with a costume for a party and forgot to tell her the hair dye was semi-permanent, not wash out. She got suspended for three days for showing up to school with blue hair," Aki admitted, snickering. Nikolai and Klaus laughed, but Yohji thought it was unnecessarily mean.

"Shit, I just touched this up the other night!" Aki realized, gingerly touching his teal spikes. "I don't have blue goo sliding down my face, do I?" He twisted the rearview mirror around, trying to see his face.

"It's fine love, relax," Nikolai assured him.

From there the two in the front slid off into mushy pet names and sickening flirtations. Yohji figured it was safe to consider himself out of that conversation and try starting one with Klaus. He looked to his right and saw Klaus sitting as far from him as he possibly could, just short of pressed up against the door, staring morosely out the window with the coat pulled around him like a protective barrier.

Huh. Well that was a little different than in the park.

"Klaus, you okay?" He asked quietly.

"Fine." It sounded like a stock answer, and just as much bullshit as before.

"Um…look I might be assuming too much here, but when you're done with your family stuff…do you think we could, um, that you'd want to see me again?" He asked.

It really was easier charming high school girls. They reacted so suddenly and transparently that he was always on confident footing. Hell even the occasional rejection worked to his advantage because sometimes he'd get a date with a sympathetic onlooker out of the deal. Klaus, on the other hand, had him mystified, and he didn't like the uncertainty.

"Yohji I'd love to hang out with you, but I don't think I'm going to be able to," He finally muttered, still to the car window instead of Yohji.

"Oh. Damn, that sucks. Well…here, just in case." Yohji reached into his coat pocket, startling Klaus for a second until he realized what he was doing. He pulled out a slightly damp piece of receipt paper and a pen and attempted to scribble his phone number onto it.

"That's never going to work," Klaus said with an amused snort. "Just give up."

"Nah, that'd be too easy." Yohji flashed him one of his more charming smiles before capturing one of his slender hands and scribbling the digits on the back of it. "There. If you get a chance call me. I don't care when it is, I'd just like to see you again before you leave."

Klaus stared at his hand, as though he'd never seen anything like it before. He nodded dazedly.

The car pulled to a stop shortly thereafter. Aki and Nikolai shared a long and uncomfortable-for-their-companions goodbye kiss while Yohji and Klaus sat in an awkward silence.

"Call me tonight, okay?" Aki said, once he'd finally disengaged himself from his boyfriend.

"Sure I will. I'll swing by if I can. C'mon Klaus, let's get moving," Nikolai snapped.

Klaus awkwardly shrugged out of the jacket to hand it back to Yohji. Their fingers brushed, and for whatever reason that emboldened him into giving Yohji a quick goodbye peck.

"I don't whore myself around," He murmured, breath ghosting over Yohji's ear and making him shiver.

Klaus quickly and gracefully exited the car and slammed the door behind him. Nikolai was glaring at him. "What?" He snapped.

Yohji stayed in the backseat, a giddy smile on his face as he gingerly touched his lips. Aki smiled at him, a pretty giddy smile on his face as well.

"Isn't my honey fantastic?" He asked proudly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, he's spiffy." Yohji figured his actual opinion of Nikolai wouldn't go over well. Aki laughed, seeming to understand.

"His little cousin's pretty okay too though, huh? So…I assume you've got some more insight for the straight or gay question now, huh?"

Yohji frowned thoughtfully. "No, I'd say I'm easily more confused than before. But I do like Klaus, a lot. I can run with that for now. It's just too damn bad he's leaving the country," He finished sadly. Aki nodded in agreement.

* * *

Meanwhile 'Klaus' and 'Nikolai' had slipped into their car and merged into traffic.

Sergei's expression sunk into a determined scowl as soon as Aki was out of sight. He rubbed at his face as though to purge it of some unpleasant sensation. Schuldig thought he was being a baby about it, but then again the tingle on his lips was pleasant. It was the difference between kissing someone because you wanted to and doing it because you had to for work, he supposed.

"What the hell was that?" Sergei demanded sourly.

"As usual, what the hell are you talking about Paranahov?" Schuldig returned disdainfully. "Or are you just jealous that my guy was better looking?"

The jeer was a dumb idea. He could tell immediately that he'd just made a mistake similar to when he'd started telling Farfarello Catholic jokes, but he never understood those boundaries existed until he crossed them.

"And are you that much of a cock-slut that you don't get enough of it during work? You really need to seek it out when you don't have to? Christ little Schwarz, did you even look in that faggot's head or were you just that interested in getting rammed by him?" Sergei returned.

Schuldig scowled, indignant. "Of course I scanned him."

"Anything useful?" Sergei's tone changed now that they were talking about work, and Schuldig hated to admit to himself that it was a comforting change. He'd witnessed Sergei Paranahov's more unstable moods and was glad he'd yet to be a victim of one of them, for victim he would undoubtedly be. He was unarmed and still sorely lacking in the hand-to-hand department even though Brad and Farfarello were pros by now. When the eight year old surpassed him in fighting ability he'd be rightfully ashamed, but considering Nagi was even skinnier and even more reliant on his psi-ability than Schuldig, that was unlikely. At any rate, since Sergei could shield like nobody's business he could most certainly make Schuldig very dead if he so desired.

"I didn't get anything useful," Schuldig lied. In truth, Murakami had apparently told Yohji about what he'd dug up on Rosenkreuz and even gone so far as to see if he wanted in on trying to stop them. Yohji had had the sense to refuse, but that wouldn't stop a loyal Rosenkreuz agent from putting a bullet between his eyes.

Schuldig was, however, less than loyal, and besides that, why should a perfectly pretty teen who, for some ungodly reason, was interested in Schuldig have to die over something so slight? There was no indication Yohji would ever be a headache for Rosenkreuz…although he was discomfited enough by his omission that he'd tell Brad about it, later.

"Ah, so you really were just-"

"Do we have to talk about this?" Schuldig snapped.

"I think we do!" Sergei roared. "You ditched me with that fucking cocksucker all afternoon so you could go suck face, you fucking shit! And you wonder why Farblos doesn't see Schwarz as equals? I would never stick Silvia with one of her mission-johns and she has the same decency towards me!"

"Look, Murakami's pretty decent for a mission-john," Schuldig pointed out, referring to the hits that needed to be seduced first, in this case to levels Sergei didn't want to deal with. Apparently he was straight, but Rosenkreuz had never bothered to care about such things. Why it bothered him so much was a mystery to Schuldig, who'd had to do much worse as a mission-ready child telepath during training. Aki Murakami was downright charming compared to the pedophiles.

Sergei screeched the car to a halt, much to the surprise of the motorists behind him. "I am not a fag." His voice reeked of an odd combination of insecurity and determination. Schuldig thought it best to smile and nod.

"Okay…Serg, I think you should be driving now."

Sergei turned back to the road and the two assassins finished the drive out in a thick and charged near-silence, broken only by Sergei's crazed mutterings.

'Fucking great,' Schuldig thought to himself when they pulled up in the hotel parking lot. Brad's car and Silvia's car were absent, meaning he was likely walking into a very empty hotel suite with Paranahov, unless Armlisch had remained behind. Even then, the mysterious team leader of Farblos was hardly better company. Schuldig had found that Miss Blanca and Brad aside, anomalies that they were, most precogs creeped the hell out of him.

_Brad, where the fuck are you? Me and Sergei just got back and he's unstable again_.

Brad's answer was faint, indicating distance. _You're a little late_.

_We got sidetracked. The target showed up and we had to woo him out of suspicion. I guess it looked like Sergei was trying to cheat on him with me. So now I'm his annoying little cousin Klaus, visiting Tokyo for the first time,_ He chatted as they took the elevator up to the room.

_Fascinating,_ Brad answered sarcastically. _We should be there pretty soon, but there was an accident up the street from the hotel. Damn, it might take a minute._

_That was Sergei's temper tantrum. Hopefully he's feeling better now,_ Schuldig said nervously.

He was very neatly proven wrong when they got into the darkened hotel room. As soon as the door was shut and locked Sergei clamped a hand around Schuldig's neck and slammed him into the nearest wall. Schuldig grabbed at Sergei's hand and wrist, but there was no way he was winning that battle. His feet kicked out helplessly where they dangled at least six inches above the carpet.

Apparently Sergei had been holding back the true extent of his rage until they were in private. Schuldig struggled hopelessly against the larger assassin. His abilities were much more subtle than Sergei's overwhelming physical aggression; he was pretty sure Brad and the others would come back to a creatively murdered telepath.

"I know you've been thinking your little jokes about me Schwarz. Well that sneer's gone now, isn't it?" Sergei roared.

_The fuck are you talking about Paranahov?_ Schuldig projected fearfully. He was light headed, and even if Sergei didn't kill him, head injuries could have effects worse than death for the more sensitive psis, like telepaths for instance.

"Your team is a joke, for all your fucking smug-ass pretenses! Like none of you guys have had to whore yourselves for work, but you act like you're fucking better and you live in a damned hovel in your fuck-ing rags-" Quite a lot was exploding from the telekinetic; Schuldig was under the impression very little of this had anything to do with him, he just happened to be lucky enough to be there when Paranahov finally cracked under the pressure. And why not? The man was twenty four, which meant he'd been dealing with the Rosenkreuz life for at least a decade, possibly longer.

His ranting was harsh and guttural and Schuldig was beyond attempting to translate it into words, instead it simply registered as background noise. The psychic assault was much worse; Sergei had lowered his shields and Schuldig's mind was being hit with wave after wave of screamed thoughts that had taken on the texture of their owner's emotions; physically his head was hurting.

Suddenly he could breathe again, although this came with being flung into a surface. Sergei didn't remove his hand from Schuldig's neck, he simply used his hold to crash him into the back of the couch with enough force that by rights Schuldig's neck should have snapped like a toothpick. He was reeling and dazed from the sudden movement, the blow to his head and the psi-assault.

He knew he should call for help, that Brad would drive on the sidewalk if he knew what was going on, but being in a situation that was actually life threatening was unfamiliar ground to him; he hadn't experienced it since his first mission about five years ago, and the fear was paralyzing.

"S-Sergei, what are you doing?" He rasped out. The enraged psychic was behind him and one of his hands was wandering.

"You fucking smug little shit, you're not gonna make fun of me anymore, fucking little cock-slut you'll probably like this-"

Oh shit, oh shit-shit-shit; he was very familiar with the end results of that particular brand of ranting from the enraged powerless. Schuldig started struggling for all he was worth, earning himself some strangling and hits he might not otherwise have had coming, but his reactions had ceased to have any logical flow of self-preservation accompanying them. Now he was simply scared shitless and wanted to break Sergei's hold on him at any cost, even though he knew he couldn't and that struggling would only make it hurt more.

Neither of them heard the door open or even noticed the lights being turned on, but Schuldig did notice when he was dropped to the carpet. He landed badly on his arm, the pain shooting through it making him notice Sergei had broken his wrist, but it was very nice to be able to breathe again even if that hurt a little too. His jeans had been ripped down to his knees, and he hastily pulled them back up with his good hand.

Brad had Sergei pinned to the wall in a much more professional and dignified hold than the asshole had used on Schuldig. Seeing as Sergei was unusually stiff and probably could have broken Brad's hold with his telekinesis, Schuldig suspected Silvia was holding him there as well. Her expression was clearly one of disgust.

"What the hell was that Sergei?" She demanded.

"What the hell did it look like Sil? Do you have him?" Brad was probably going to shatter his own teeth with how hard he was grinding them. Schuldig had only seen him that pissed off once before and the circumstances had been pretty much the same, albeit with a couple of different actors.

"Yes," Sylvia answered.

Brad let go of Sergei and crouched down next to Schuldig, who was still struggling with his pants one handedly. Sergei had ripped the button clear off and one of the seams had split. Brad helped him get his clothes back in order and gave him a tissue for his bleeding nose, a detail he'd missed in all the commotion.

"He psi-whammied you too?" Brad asked with shocked disgust. "Really Paranahov, do you have any standards?"

"Crawford, enough," Armlisch's deep voice startled them all. Schuldig hadn't noticed him lurking in the doorway. He walked over to Sergei and fixed his eerie unseeing eyes on him. "Sergei, what is your reason for this?"

Sergei didn't answer, but turned his head to the side and chewed on his lip. Silvia had released her hold now that it looked like he was back in control of himself.

"I have never condoned unprovoked attacks on the unarmed and defenseless, especially when they are our allies. Please, if you had a reason I'd like to hear it." Armlisch sounded more like a stern but disappointed parent than a team leader, and Sergei looked for all the world like he fit the role of the guilty child.

"Schuldig's an obnoxious brat, but that's no reason for, for doing something like _that_," Silvia spat. "Really Sergei, that's something we leave at the barracks."

"Guys back off," Schuldig surprised himself by blurting out defensively, but he pressed on. "I'm fine, he just lost control for a few minutes. Nothing actually happened."

"It came close to happening!" Brad snapped, while Silvia yelled, "It might have if we'd been a minute later!"

Sergei was staring at Schuldig like he didn't recognize him. He shrugged, because it had nothing to do with Sergei himself and everything to do with how much he hated being pitied by his teammates. He really didn't want to see Brad go back to the gruff overprotection he'd exhibited for the first few months after he'd realized Schuldig was being regularly sexually abused by the telepath who'd trained him. Unfortunately the shrugging motion irritated his broken wrist and had him gasping in pain and clutching at the injury, which again made it worse until his eyes had watered and he was biting back profanity.

"Crawford, you should take your teammate out for assistance. Setting broken bones has never been a strongpoint for the members of my team so you may actually need trained medical help. I will deal with my teammate and you have my word, this will never happen again," Armlisch said, in the sort of pronouncement one didn't doubt.

Brad nodded, and then seemed to suddenly remember Armlisch was blind. "Yeah, yes…we'll get going." He shot another contemptuous glare at Paranahov and then lead Schuldig out of the suite.

He was moving slowly, having to hold up his pants as he went along and stopping frequently from dizzy spells. "You don't have a head injury, do you?" Brad asked, concerned.

"I, shit…he did slam my head against the wall but I don't think it's that bad…just a little sore."

"Schuldig don't play it down. If you're injured I need to know. We have a mission in progress." Brad reminded him.

"Well my wrist is broken and my dignity's smarting like a bitch but I think that's it. I'll let you know if the dizziness doesn't go away," He answered through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Brad said quietly. That was another thing Schuldig hated about these situations, watching Brad take responsibility for things he had nothing to do with. He assumed that since he was team leader for Schwarz and a precog that he was invariably responsible for everything bad that happened to the other three. At one point in his life Schuldig might have agreed, but certainly not after this long working with Brad and seeing just how hard he tried and how insistently he beat himself up for his perceived failures.

"It wasn't your fault. You told me Sergei was hard to predict and to be careful," Schuldig said.

"I shouldn't have left you alone with him. We all knew he could overpower you, and unlike Armlisch and Silvia, he loses himself enough that there's a reasonable fear of it happening."

"Fine, so we learned. Don't leave an irritating shit like me alone with a psychotic asshat like Sergei," Schuldig stated. He got into Brad's car and frowned, looking down at his pants. "You know Brad, people are going to ask questions if I show up in a hospital with a broken wrist and ripped pants."

"They're going to ask questions no matter what. Your nosebleed is a conspicuous anomaly, and you're beat up a little besides. There's some obvious bruising around your neck," Brad pointed out, tone implying he was partly informed by a vision. "You're going to have to alter memories. Are you up to it?"

"Hells fucking no. Damn."

"Fine. I was hoping to save this favor for an emergency but I don't see another option," Brad muttered. He steered the car away from the hospital, turning a little more sharply than Schuldig would have liked. He renewed his effort to get his seatbelt on one handed.

"Brad could you drive a little less like a nut job? My balance has been better you know!" Schuldig snapped.

"I'm driving fine, everyone else is just slow," He complained.

Not for the first time Schuldig wondered who the fuck had taught his friend how to drive.

"Where the hell are we?" Schuldig asked when Brad finally screeched to a sudden stop in front of a less than welcoming looking building. There were several cars with illegally tinted windows parked outside. The whole thing screamed sketch.

"I did a few favors for the yakuza when I found out our stay in Japan was semi permanent. You know, having favors from the organized crime syndicate of whatever country you're staying in usually works out in one's favor. There's an unlicensed doctor here we can see without questions."

"Brad, are you sure you don't have a head injury?" Schuldig asked, stunned. "Nothing about that sounds like a good idea!"

Brad took a deep calming breath before turning to Schuldig with one of his patronizing 'shut up you're a moron' looks. "Do you think I'd hand you off to a strange criminal for medical treatment if I hadn't looked ahead to see how it would work out first?"

Schuldig didn't have anything to say to that.

"Come on, I'll walk you in."

"Kay."

_A/N: This chapter makes heavy reference to another fic I wrote called Journey, which is an origin story (of sorts) for Schuldig and Brad, and to a lesser extent Silvia and Farfarello. _


End file.
